Election is Far from 'De-Racialized'

After a five-month primary season, it's a relief that I don't have to blog about "when the polls close in [fill in the state]." So while the Democrats' history-making primary season has ended, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman recently wrote about the "de-racialization of U.S. politics." He asked:

But why has racial division become so much less important in American politics?

In an op-ed in the New York Daily News, Hillary Clinton addressed the latest kerfuffle:

I want to set the record straight: I was making the simple point that given our history, the length of this year's primary contest is nothing unusual. Both the executive editor of the newspaper where I made the remarks, and Sen. Kennedy's son, Bobby Kennedy Jr., put out statements confirming that this was the clear meaning of my remarks. Bobby stated, "I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense."

Krugman must be watching TV and reading exit polls through rose-colored glasses because race still matters.

As I watched Hillary Clinton's concession speech on Saturday, I was struck that the only thing black in the National Building Museum were the black mourning suits worn by Hillary, Bill and Chelsea.

OK, I did see Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Sheila Jackson Lee, Vernon Jordan, Rodney Slater and a few other black faces. But the specks of black in a sea of white faces looked like a Republican gathering.

I was similarly struck by the different shades of white at the recent meeting of the Democratic National Committee Rules and Bylaws Committee. The rules committee is co-chaired by Alexis Herman and has several black members, but the audience in the ballroom was overwhelmingly white. And don't get me started about the demographics of the journalists credentialed to cover the hearing.

A new Gallup poll found that for most voters, race will not be a factor. Putting aside the Bradley effect, 28 percent of whites say Barack Obama's race will hurt him, while 21 percent of blacks say his race will help him.

As to whether the campaigns' will play the race card:

Forty-eight percent of blacks say the Democrats' campaign will make race a factor this year, while 70 percent say Republicans will use race as an issue. Whites are much more uniform in their responses to this question: About half say each party will use race as an issue in the campaign.

In this "de-racialized" presidential election, voters use coded language such as "comfort level" and "he's not one of us." At the same time, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, patriotism and the American flag lapel pin have become proxies for race.

Over the years, I have written that race is the Republican Party's Achilles' heel. Well, folks, the shoe is now on the other foot.