Black conservatives conflicted on Obama campaign
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 14, 7:18 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Black conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams has never voted for a Democrat for president. That could change this year with Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee.
"I don't necessarily like his policies; I don't like much that he advocates, but for the first time in my life, history thrusts me to really seriously think about it," Williams said. "I can honestly say I have no idea who I'm going to pull that lever for in November. And to me, that's incredible."
Just as Obama has touched black Democratic voters, he has engendered conflicting emotions among black Republicans. They revel over the possibility of a black president but wrestle with the thought that the Illinois senator doesn't sit beside them ideologically.
"Among black conservatives," Williams said, "they tell me privately, it would be very hard to vote against him in November."
Perhaps sensing the possibility of such a shift, Republican presidential candidate John McCain has made some efforts to lure black voters. He recently told Essence magazine that he would attend the NAACP's annual convention next month, and he noted that he recently traveled to Selma, Ala., scene of seminal voting rights protests in the 1960s, and "talked about the need to include 'forgotten Americans.'"
Still, the Arizona senator has a tall order in winning black votes, no doubt made taller by running against a black opponent. In 2004, blacks chose Democrat John Kerry over President Bush by an 88 percent to 11 percent margin, according to exit polls.
J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman who once was part of the GOP House leadership, said he's thinking of voting for Obama. Watts said he's still a Republican, but he criticizes his party for neglecting the black community. Black Republicans, he said, have to concede that while they might not agree with Democrats on issues, at least that party reaches out to them.
4 comments:
Heh, I was going to post this at News Hounds.
Seems to me that one of Obama's strengths is his unprecedented ability to bridge the perceived racial divide in the U.S.
What a milestone and a corner-turning moment in the national consciousness it will be to have a Black President. Seriously. It will be a cultural upheaval that will be mind-blowing in the best sense.
Seems to me that any person who supports the RW philosophy is a traitor to all that has transpired before them. I feel that it is even more criminal to be ANY minority and support the party of divisiveness.
One can't support the party of exclusion, hate, HYPOCRISY and racism and be honest to one's ancestry, let alone heirs.
I also suspect that when the curtain on the voting booth is drawn, many people who profess otherwise will pause and remember their roots.
I sincerely hope so.
The times, they are a-changin'.
-Bob Dylan
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