Poll Suggests Obama’s Term Is Altering Views on Race

[babylonsister]

This is one huge accomplishment that hasn't been mentioned. :fistbump:

Poll Suggests Obama’s Term Is Altering Views on Race

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Published: April 27, 2009

snip//


Mr. Obama will mark his 100th day in office on Wednesday with a trip to St. Louis and a prime time news conference, where aides say he will make the case that he has made ‘’a down payment” on fixing the nation’s biggest problems. The poll found Americans seem to share that view, suggesting the White House has been effective at casting Mr. Obama as an agent of change, while persuading the public that change will take time.

“With all Obama wants to do and all he’s got going, it’s going to take more than four years,” said Larry Gibbons, 58, a retired restaurant manager and Republican in Phoenix who voted for Mr. Obama’s opponent, John McCain. Speaking in a follow-up interview, he added, “Obama is attacking everything at once and I do approve of that.”

Throughout Mr. Obama’s candidacy and his young presidency, race has loomed as an undercurrent to his message of change. Yet the president shies away from talking about it. In response to a question at his last press conference, Mr. Obama conceded that his election had created ‘’justifiable pride on the part of the country,” but quickly shifted gears, adding, “That lasted about a day.”

But Americans do feel differently about race and race relations with Mr. Obama in the White House, according to poll respondents who spoke in follow-up interviews. Some, like Jacqueline Luster, a 60-year-old retired bank employee in Macedonia, Ohio, say the times are changing, but that Mr. Obama seems to be speeding that change.

“With him as president, people seem to be working together toward the same goals and that has helped race relations,” she said. “Before there was more of a separation, blacks working for black goals and whites for white goals. Obama has helped change the perception of blacks in a positive way, but it’s also the times. ‘’

Another Democrat, Lisa Fleming, 49, who is white, said that even in the small Illinois town, Potomac, where she lives, she notices ‘’people of different races being kinder to each other” since Mr. Obama’s election. A white Republican homemaker in Kansas City, Mary Robertson, 78, said Mr. Obama’s ‘’openness and acceptance have helped others be more open and accepting.”

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/us/politics/28poll.html?hp

[firedupdem]

1. Rec'd...funny I read this as I'm watching a recording of

the inauguration "We are one Concert" Every now and then I have to remind myself of that beautiful day with the sea of faces from every race.

:fistbump:

[Kind of Blue]

4. Yeah, I still have it on DVR.

It never gets old for me either. :)

[firedupdem]

5. I love it. I can put that on and clean the entire house! It still gets

me all misty eyed. Tea baggers need to watch that and see what a real crowd looks like.

[BlooInBloo]

2. Huh. I'll be damned. Black folks and white folks really AREN'T significantly different?

Who woulda thunk it?

[dipsydoodle]

3. All bruvvers and sistas

under the skin.:thumbsup:

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. Ha! I predicted this and my relatives who swore up and down that...

the U.S. was going to disintegrate into armed conflict in the streets if Obama was elected can kiss my.....

[Cha]

7. Oh, it's gotta be working on the

American and Global Psyche~

Talk about The Perfect Storm that fomented the Perfect Change.

[stevedeshazer]

8. This is a really important and under-reported story

I completely agree. And the President didn't do it, ordinary Americans did by voting for him in huge numbers across all racial lines.

Maybe it's under-reported because race doesn't matter to most Americans anymore. I'd like to think that's the reason.

[Number23]

9. Would be beautiful, wonderful if this was really true

[applegrove]

10. Nice to hear.