In 2008 there was a lot of speculation about the possibility of the Bradley Effect (sometimes called the Wilder Effect) seeing White voters telling pollsters they were planning to vote for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, a Black candidate and the outcome of the race showed that many of them actually voted for George Deukmejian, who was White. Based on the exit polls, the race was called for Bradley, but when all the votes were counted, the significant win projected by exit polling turned into a loss for Bradley. And in Virginia, a similar thing happened in 1989. Doug Wilder, an African-American, was ahead by 9 points in the polls and, unlike Bradley, Wilder squeaked out a win, but only by 1%.
And there are many more documented cases where White’s told pollsters they planned to vote (or had voted in the case of exit polls) for the black candidate, when they had not.
We didn’t see that in 2008. Barack Obama was going to be the “post racial” president. If anything, the 2012 Bradley Effect may have turned out to be a reverse Bradley Effect where Obama’s race was a plus for voters.
At the very least, 2008 proved that white’s were willing to trust a black man to be president. And Barack Obama the Candidate was saying all the things they wanted to hear. The prospect of an America that could finally and completely put race behind us was an appealing concept.
But what the last 4 years has shown is that Obama and his Justice Department under Eric Holder were not color blind. Black Panthers were given a free pass to intimidate voters, college professors who were less than cooperative with police investigating a potential break-in were given a free pass and numerous instances of preferential treatment of blacks occurred in the last 4 years.
Not only that, any white person who happened to differentiate with Obama’s policies or decisions was immediately branded a racist.
And without a single shred of evidence, the TEA Party movement was accused of being racist.
No, things have not improved between the races, they have become worse. Far worse.
And now blacks are threatening riots if Obama is defeated and any black person who supports Romney is accused of being a traitor to their race.
Blacks are voting in near monolithic proportions for Obama, a behavior that would be immediately deemed as racist of white’s were doing the same with Mitt Romney.
We are all concentrating on the skew in these polls, but with 72% of the country describes as white, it is reasonable to believe that, under the circumstances of the past 4 years that white Democrats and Independents in particular would tell pollsters they supported Obama, but when it comes time to cast the ballot, they will not support the current president.
And this time, it would not be exactly the same reasons as Tom Bradley’s loss in California. It is reasonable to assume that Bradley’s race itself was the deciding factor.
This time, racism might be a factor, but not the racism of the voters, rather the racism of Barack Obama himself. Racism that Obama’s Black Liberation Theology as taught by his former pastor Reverend Wright causes him to see white people as the perpetrators of evil against blacks and the root cause of the plight of the blacks.
Ironically, the Bradley Effect, if it arises this time, will be based not on the color of Barack Obama’s shin, but rather the content of his character.
We’ve come a long way, baby. Perhaps Dr. Martin Luther King would be proud of those who reject Obama because of his racism and not his race.
And if that is the case, it could be true that we are now a post racial society.
Everyone except Barack Obama.
Article written by: Tom White
About Tom White
Tom is a US Navy Veteran, owns an Insurance Agency and is currently an IT Manager for a Virginia Distributor. He has been published in American Thinker, currently writes for the Richmond Examiner as well as Virginia Right! Blog. Tom lives in Hanover County, Va and is involved in politics at every level and is a Recovering Republican who has finally had enough of the War on Conservatives in progress with the Leadership of the GOP on a National Level.
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