There’s a Democratic presidential debate tonight. Before you reach for the remote, you may want to tune in to see whether Sen. Barack Obama is asked whether he agrees with his wife that black voters suffer from the white man’s ice is colder syndrome.
Obama says the American people have moved beyond race (and here). Perhaps. A new Pew Research Center survey found that nearly 40 percent of blacks think "blacks can no longer be thought of as a single race." Black support of Sen. Hillary Clinton suggests black voters have indeed moved beyond race.
But in an interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, Michelle Obama dismissed the possibility that they are making informed decisions. Instead, in her worldview, black support for Hillary stems from a clinical disorder:
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: The polls are showing your husband is trailing Hillary by 46% to 37% in the African-American community. What’s going on here?
MICHELLE OBAMA: First of all, I think that that’s not going to hold. I’m completely confident: black America will wake up, and get [it]. But what we’re dealing with in the black community is just the natural fear of possibility. You know, when I look at my life, the stuff that we’re seeing in these polls has played out my whole life. You know, always been told by somebody that I’m not ready, that I can’t do something, my scores weren’t high enough. You know, there’s always that doubt in the back of the minds of people of color. People who’ve been oppressed and haven’t been given real opportunities. That you never really believe. That you believe that somehow, someone is better than you. You know, deep down inside, you doubt whether you can do it, because that’s all you’ve been told, is “no, wait.” That’s all you hear, and you hear it from people who love you. Not because they don’t care about you, but because they’re afraid. They’re afraid that something might happen.
BRZEZINSKI: It’s interesting that you say that, excuse me. Because a stewardess yesterday, a 52-year old African-American, and I asked her if she was interested in Barack Obama, if she would vote for him. And she said, like this, she said: “I don’t think so, because he probably can’t win, because he’s black.”
OBAMA: That’s right. That’s the psychology that’s going on in our heads, in our souls, and I understand it. I know where it comes from, and I think that it’s one of the horrible legacies of racism and discrimination and oppression.
Michelle Obama is the one who needs to “wake up and get it.” For black voters, it’s about experience and electability – not race.
