Observations

This Isn’t About Politics! Really!

Please bear with me for a few minutes on this one, all of you readers who don’t like American politics. This is about human nature and social allegiances and the fascinating interplay of these factors with the world of ... dare I speak it? ... politics.

For the first time in America’s history there is the real possibility that a black man or a woman could be elected President of the United States. This possibility has put into play an entire new set of factors, namely that if he is nominated some people will vote for the black man specifically because he is black, and some will vote against him specifically because he is black. Some people will likewise vote for the woman, if she gets the nomination, specifically because she is a woman, and, similarly, some people will specifically vote against her because she is a woman.

The degree to which these factors will enter into the presidential decision making is a question mark, but you can bet it will enter into the equation. Skin color and gender ought not to be a factor on either side of that decision; we ought to vote for the candidate that each of us thinks is the best choice.

A different twist on this concept is that some people will not vote for the likely Republican nominee because of his age. He’s too old, some say. The converse of that argument, that people will vote for him because he is old, hasn’t be advanced, as far as I know.

My personal view is that more black voters will vote for Barack Obama because he is black than either white people will vote against him because he is black, or that women will heavily support Hillary Clinton because she is a woman, or that men will not support Hillary Clinton because she is a woman. But that is just one guy’s opinion.

What is yours?