Voting by feel
Re “Obama banking on black turnout,” June 23
I can’t blame black Americans for relishing the prospect of the first black president. However, let’s be honest about this. If a black person votes for Obama primarily because he is black, isn’t that the same as a white person refusing to vote for Obama because he is black? Isn’t that properly called racism?
If black voters, or for that matter any voters, can’t make the distinction between what is right versus what makes them feel good, I believe they are not sufficiently adult to vote. The ability to make this distinction is a primary characteristic that distinguishes between adults and children.
The rub here is that Obama loses his whole constituency if the feel-good variable is eliminated. In the final analysis, that’s all he has to offer: words of little substance that make people feel good.
Mitchell Harris
La Verne
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