Race Takes Center Stage in SC

Candidate's wife, stumping in SC, zeros in on women

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama has been careful to present himself as a post-racial candidate, but not so Michelle Obama, at least in South Carolina, where she has been testing the boundaries of racial campaigning. In a speech last week she said black voters—who make up as many has half the state's Democrats—are falling prey to the conventional wisdom that America’s not ready for a black president. More»

(NEWSER) - More Americans say race relations are looking good since the election of Barack Obama, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll. Among 973 adults surveyed last week, two-thirds said race relations were good and the number of blacks in agreement doubled since last summer. Despite resignation over the economy and the Iraq war—fronts most Americans say are slow-moving—72% expressed optimism about the next 4 years. More»

Instead of putting conflict behind us, Dem's crowd perceives insult just about everywhere

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama is allegedly helping America “transcend race,” Jonah Goldberg writes in the National Review, but if moving beyond race “would involve making race less of an issue,” why are Obama’s fervent supporters obsessed with bringing it up? One columnist sees racism in descriptions of the Democrat as “skinny"; the Kansas City Star’s editorial board sees it in those who call him “socialist.” More»

DNC skirts around Obama's breakthrough

(NEWSER) - Last night's Hillaryfest was the culmination of a months-long homage to the New York senator's "historic" achievement of almost winning a major party's presidential nomination. But it's odd, notes Alessandra Stanley, that while an "also-ran" has made her candidacy a milestone, there's been little mention of the "arguably more remarkable breakthrough" of the man who actually won the primary. More»

Documentary traces one couple's story through New Orleans disaster

(NEWSER) - Trouble the Water, a new documentary, is ostensibly about Hurricane Katrina, centered around home-video footage shot during the disaster by a resident of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. But the film, which frames Kimberly Roberts’ footage within a larger context, transcends that one event to put forth a peerless discussion of race in America, Andrew O’Hehir writes in Salon. More»