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With Race in Play, Obama's White Support Softens

Poll numbers plummeted amid Sotomayor, Gates controversies

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 14, 2009 12:15 PM CDT

(Newser) – President Obama’s downward opinion-poll trajectory among whites seems to be linked to the “blackening” of his image, writes Joan Walsh in Salon. It accelerated during two racially charged moments this summer: Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, marked with debate over her “wise Latina” comment, and the Henry Louis Gates controversy. At such times, Walsh argues, “there's no denying, he got blacker to a segment of the white population.”

“I think most of the president's troubles with white voters have to do with political doubt his enemies have sown about his programs,” Walsh notes. Other Democrats have faced smear campaigns; Bill Clinton was portrayed as a rapist. But such claims never drew out “organized opposition” such as we’re seeing among anti-Obama extremists. “The Republican attack is resonating with a small but extremely vocal and paranoid segment of its base," Wals observes, "and I think racism has everything to do with that.”

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have a beer with Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley at the White House on Thursday, July 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Supreme Court's newest member, Sonia Sotomayor, responds to well wishers outside the court in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009, following her investiture ceremony. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Barack Obama pauses during a health insurance reform rally, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

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Listening to some parents' expressing actual fear of having Obama beamed into their kids' classrooms, it was hard to imagine such hysteria being inspired by a white president. It would never happen. - Joan Walsh

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 76 comments

lindamae

Sep 15, 2009 6:05 AM CDT

Au contraire: "I think most of the president's troubles with white voters have to do with political doubt his enemies have sown about his programs," Does Ms. Wash think Americans are that moronic that we would allow someone to turn us against a man because of his skin color? If that were the case, then Obama would never had been elected. People have turned against Obama's ideas and programs because Americans have read about Obama's ideas and programs. C'est fini.

freethemall

Sep 15, 2009 3:14 AM CDT

@prowlerzee: It's true that during the primary campaign, some of Obama's supporters, in their understandable enthusiasm for Obama, accused the Clintons of racism. Obama himself, defended the Clintons against these accusations. Nice try, but we Democrats will not fall for your obvious clumsy attempt to divide us by race.

odowd80

Sep 15, 2009 2:08 AM CDT

Ummm...well, white supremacy groups for one.

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Politics

race • politics • Joan Walsh • poll • racism • black • US Supreme Court • approval ratings • white voters • opinion polls • Obama administration • President Obama • Sonia Sotomayor • Henry Louis Gates Jr

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With Race in Play, Obama's White Support Softens