Hullabaloo

Sunday, January 20, 2008

 
Are Democrats over 45 Racists?

by digby


Apparently, some people think so. Here's a headline on CBS:

Obama's Age Gap: Is It Race?

CBS's Dick Meyer Says Older Americans Have So Far Proven Unwilling To Vote For Barack Obama

How about young voters have so far proven unwilling to vote for an older person? Is it ageism? Really, this is ridiculous.

It's not all that hard to figure out that older voters would vote for the person who is running on "experience" just as it's not surprising that younger voters would vote for the man who promised "change." Fergawdsake, it's obviously not racism inside the Democratic party among a generation of liberal baby boomers who fought for civil rights alongside African Americans.

The people who don't like blacks are in the party where there are none. To say that Democrats over 45 are voting for Hillary because they are racists is calumny. There's no evidence that racism is involved at all.

Look, people often vote for those with whom they identify. That's what all that stupid "president I'd like to have a beer with" stuff was all about, which until about a month ago was considered an article of faith among the beltway chatterers. Nobody questioned that Bush won because all those Real Americans thought he was a regular guy just like them. Now that people are identifying with someone who isn't a "traditional politician", it's somehow illegitimate.

In this case you have a couple of candidates who are breaking down barriers and there are quite a few Democrats out there who find that exciting and meaningful. A lot of women, many of them older, look at the two candidates, don't see much difference between them on policies they care about and decide for the woman. Many African Americans are now looking at Obama and make the same calculation. Younger voters see someone of a new generation and think he sees the world as they do. Older people factor in experience, both life and political. There's nothing unusual or wrong about this.

The day after New Hampshire the first thing I saw was the media flogging The Bradley Effect and knew that we were going to see the press portray any "division" as an ugly battle between old vs young, male vs female, black vs white. I really hope people don't fall for it. There's no reason to believe that's what's happening. There is a much simpler explanation: Democrats aren't voting against candidates because they don't like women or blacks or young or old. They are voting for them because they are women or blacks or old or young. It's not the same thing at all.

The candidates are nearly indistinguishable on policy. On what basis are we supposed to make the choice? Flip a coin?


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digby 1/20/2008 07:12:00 PM |