Dr. Melissa Harris-Lacewell @ Busboys and Poets!

Posted September 17th, 2008 by andy

September 13, 2008 - Dr. Harris-Lacewell spoke on Race, Politics, Religion, and Popular Culture

I was honored to lead a community discussion at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC this weekend.  At that event I repeated my assertion that this election is a collective referendum on white supremacy. A vendor at a conservative political forum was selling boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.  This waffle box simply reinforces that belief for me.  Let me take just a moment to walk through my argument. 

First, this is an election where all of the macro-trends point strongly to a Democratic win. The economy is in the toilet. The incumbent party did not field its own VP as a candidate. The previous midterm election ousted the President’s party from controlling the Congress. And our guy is much taller. Even if I knew nothing about the candidates, as a political scientist I can tell you that Democrats should win in 2008.

Second, the Democrats fielded a strong slate of primary contenders this year while the GOP put up one of the weakest groups recent history. The strength of the Democratic field along with the long primary season resulted in massive new registrations of Democratic voters. These new registrations mean that Democrats have a clear registration advantage going into November. 

Under these conditions the only way that McCain-Palin can win in November is if significant numbers of Democrats cross party lines or choose to stay home this year.  With so much at stake and the choices so clear why would Democrats ever do that?  Hmmm….see photo above. 

Check out the Dr. Harris-Lacewell’s full blog here

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