His oratory was uplifting.
The Obama Phenomena in Pennsylvania.
Despite the efforts of a dedicated staff and a cadre of enthusiastic volunteers, Senator Barack Obama did not beat Hillary Clinton in the Pennsylvania Primary on April 22, 2008.
Obama did well in Union and Lycoming counties but in other areas of Central Pennsylvania the numbers were disappointing. The campaign staffers had hoped for a massive turnout of Blacks in Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh to offset the white blue-collar vote of middle state Pennsylvanians.
National commentators are asking new questions after the critical Pennsylvania primary election, “Where’s Obama’s knockout punch?” After spending twice as much as Clinton on advertising, he didn’t walk away a definite winner. News reports say that Clinton ended up 10 million dollars in debt after the Pennsylvania slugfest and with a sizable whole in her credibility after her “Bosnia-visit-under-sniper-fire” gaffe.
Yet, the Obama campaign was not able to knock her out and clinch the important superdelegates convention votes. What happened?
Some pundits speculate that it was good ol’ fashioned racism that did the brother in. News reports said that 1 in 5 voted against Obama because of his race in exit polling interviews. A local Williamsport journalist said that he interviewed one fellow who said bluntly, “I ain’t voting for no nigger!” (The voter went on to say that he didn’t like Clinton either.)
So there you have it. A small segment of America is not ready for an African-American President. And it is likely that this group will vote for Senator John McCain in the fall. And considering that McCain has a terrible track record on civil rights matters, the November election could be a contest of progressive ideology versus conservative tradition that is tinged with racism (or gender bias).
Perhaps the White House is reserved for White men only.
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