"Obama's race wasn't an issue...

[skypilot]

...before the election. It was only an issue after the election when everyone went all Kumbaya."

This is what an idiot said to me this weekend. In addition, these words were spoken by a black man and, as far as I know, he is not a Republican. I, who am also black, went the fuck off on this guy. He is someone I've known for years but I tend to avoid getting into any serious discussions with him about anything because he's one of those people whose immediate instinct is to always contradict people or "correct" them. It's a really horrible habit that he has. In fact, I wasn't even having a conversation with him this time; I was talking to someone else about Obama and when this guy (let's call him John) joins in the conversation and starts trying to belittle Obama's victory by saying that Obama's lead over McCain wasn't all that much. He starts pulling statistics out of his ass and when I mentioned that Obama had received a lot of the white blue-collar votes that the pundits thought he wouldn't get, "John" responds by saying that race wasn't even an issue before the election.(?!?!?!!!!) His wife (who is white) joins in the conversation and takes his side and they are both kind of ganging up on me and I'm damn near yelling because I've never encountered such fucking stupidity this side of FreeRepublic.com. So now they are not speaking to me and I'm kinda looking at them in a whole new light because I can't understand why they would want to depict Obama's win as somehow insignificant. I've encountered a couple people who have surprised me with the news that they would have voted for McCain IF they had voted and another person who doesn't seem to understand peoples' enthusiasm for Obama and who thinks that we think Obama is going to solve ALL of the country's problems. By the time I got to "John" and his wife I was just sick of these fuckers trying to blow my high. I still get choked up at the thought of Obama as our president and then I have to listen to another black man trying to trivialize what Obama has accomplished by winning this election. Fuck that shit.

[tsuki]

1. Why can't people get over it? Why does he have to be the

African-American President? Why can't he be the President-Elect that happens to be...Hawaiian? Bet he's the first Hawaiian President.

[tavalon]

3. Wow, he may well be the first Hawaiian........

For me, I see Obama's race as a nice bit of frosting. Not necessary to the cake but a nice side benefit. See, I voted for him because he was and is the smartest man in the room. That he is breaking through the race barrier and putting racial issues on the table to finally talk about is just a nice bonus.

I'm wondering if that's not what the OP's friend was trying to say, albeit badly?

[skypilot]

7. No, that's not what he was trying to say.

The whole jist of his comments was to make Obama's win seem not so impressive. And like I said in the OP this is someone who just wants to contradict people all the time. I see him doing it constantly.

[tavalon]

9. Ah, I see.

[skypilot]

4. I hope you were trying to be facetious...

...but in case you weren't let me say that no one is saying that he has to BE the African-American President but the fact that he is African-American is hardly going to go unnoticed. I'm damn thrilled to see a black man become President because I honestly didn't think I'd see it in my lifetime.

[tsuki]

14. A little maybe, but he is the President-Elect that happens to be

African-American. If Hillary would have been elected, I would have referred to her as the President-Elect, not the Woman President. The same was said of President Kennedy who happened to be Catholic (and was that a really big deal in the 1960s, believe me, the right was convinced the Pope would move from Rome to DC to run the nation.)

He is the right man, at the right time, for the right job. The thought of having another dumb-ass in the WH was not an option.

[Burma Jones]

2. I voted for the Smartest Candidate.....that he happened to be a "Mutt" is inconsequential to me

Having said that, the idea that race wasn't a factor in the election is pure fantasy. And going all "Kumbaya?" afterwards, well, if you were a member of an oppressed minority or depressed over the nation's rampant anti-intellectualism or relieved that the US could indeed elect a multi-racial guy with a funny name, why wouldn't you go all Kumbaya?....

[malaise]

5. For your next encounter

52.7 to 46 - largest percentage victory for a Dem since the 60s
won the popular vote by over 8M
more than double gramps with 365 electoral college votes

[skypilot]

12. Thanks.

But with this guy I don't think that any of that will do any good. He'll just pull some other numbers out of thin air. This incident that I witness between him and his wife pretty much sums this guy up: We were watching a tennis match at a bar and the commentator mentioned that one of the players had won 6 of his last 8 games. "John's" wife says, "Hmm, 75%." John immediately responds, "No, that's not 75%."
In this case even the wife had had enough. She snapped at him and spelled it out for him that six is exactly 75% of eight. That's just his personality. Like I said, I normally avoid any serious conversations with him.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. Baloney! If He Were White He'd Have Won 3 to 1.

It would have been an electoral slaughter of epic proportions. The only reason many people voted for McCain was Obama's complexion.
The Professor

[gollygee]

8. If he were white and had an anglo-sounding name

he would have won by even more.

Anyway, I agree.

[aquart]

15. And you will always believe that.

And never understand why so many laugh when you say it.

[niceypoo]

13. Why stay mired in the past?

If Obama was white he would have done better? Like Kerry? Gore?

Think, man, think!!

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Did You Have A Point?

I'm assuming no.

Kerry and Gore didn't have the conditions to run within as Obama. They didn't have Obama's charisma. They didn't have his oratorical skills. They didn't have his inspirational style.

And that was hardly my point!

So, let's try to keep up, shall we.

The outcome of the election WAS affected by race. Obama still won, but it would have been an electoral massacre had he looked more like me. I voted for him, gladly. His color didn't matter to me one whit. Nobody's color ever has.

But, reality is that it matters to some people.

People really wanted change and still voted for McCain, even though he offered no change. The reason is obvious.

Think man, think! If you can.
GAC

[Kashka-Kat]

10. not overtly, but....

the "scary black man" thing sorta morphed into "scary black-african muslim terrorist" this time around - not Willie Horton but something equally as terrifying to a percentage of white people (like my Mom for instance). Still the portrayal of black person as scary "other" persists. Which in turn is what is empowering and emboldening the white supremist hate groups.

Which is not to negate the perception that for a large majority the o.p. may be correct.

[niceypoo]

11. Obama made sure it wasn't about race by not bringing it up

It never really became an issue. Smart politically, he got more white votes than Kerry.