In the euphoria surrounding the Obama nomination — the first black presidential candidate to represent a major party — and the discussion of what Hillary Clinton and her supporters might do, we have allowed an issue that played out as subtext to much of the primary campaign to fall from sight: Race.
Andrew Greeley, writing in The Chicago Sun-Times, cuts to the chase, reminding us that what we saw during the primary — the veiled playing of the race card by former President Bill Clinton in South Carolina, the pandering to “hard-working whites” (implication being, of course, that non-whites might not be hard-working), etc. — will not go away.
(R)acism permeates American society and hides itself under many different disguises. The nomination of an African-American candidate was a near-miracle. Only the innocent and the naive think that the November election will not be about race.
The odds against the replication of the primary miracle in November, even against a disgraced and discredited Republic administration, are very high.
Race will silently trump the war, the economy, the cost of gasoline, the disgust with President Bush. One may wish that it will not be so, that if Obama loses it will not be because of the color of his skin but because the country genuinely wants another Republican administration.
Greeley is not wishing for a McCain win — on the contrary, he is just reminding us that the issue of race is the 800-pound gorilla in the room and that progressives interested in seeing Barack Obama, and the candidate and his campaign, will have to work that much more diligently to overcome the historical blight of racism.
Hank Kalet 