I'm not naive enough to think that racism doesn't exist because it definitely does and I've encountered it numerous times.
The thing though I hate is that so many people are assumed to be racist just because they wouldn't vote for Obama. I remember reading a column in the Huffington Post a couple of months ago where the writer commented that if people (in both parties he specified) didn't vote for Obama then they were racist.
That brought me up short. I thought, "What the...?!" The writer couldn't conceive of anyone not choosing the candidate he endorsed unless they were doing so simply from the point of racism. He wouldn't even consider that the Republican Party didn't even have a black candidate. For him it was (pardon the pun) a black and white issue. Either you're an Obama supporter or you're a racist.
I know some people won’t vote for him due to racial issues, but I hate that everyone who doesn’t vote for him is instantly suspect.
I do have to admit though, that from a psychological standpoint the entire issue has been interesting to watch. I’ve observed co-workers engaged in political discussions and when the topic of people’s opposition to Obama is brought up racism is often one of the first things mentioned as to why they believed people refused to vote for him. This was the case no matter how thoughtful, well presented, or polite the argument against Obama was made.
The reason this was amusing is that a couple of months ago we had a very well spoken and intelligent medical student do a rotation in our department. He was Republican and was well versed in political thought. He made many arguments against Obama that were well thought out, backed up with facts to support his opinions, and were thoughtfully presented. And do you know that not once did someone mention racism to him. Not even when discussing why thought others would not vote for Obama.
The medical student, of course, was African-American. He didn’t say anything that anyone else hadn’t said before, but by virtue of his race the tradition rebuttals from those with differing viewpoints were never mentioned and it was actually funny to see people trying to scramble to find a well thought out response to his criticisms without resorting to the “R” word. They actually had to think and debate rather than pigeonhole the opposition.
It was somewhat fun to see the political correctness crowd hoisted by their own petard, so to speak.
