In the past decade, 649 million votes were cast in general elections.* There were also 47,000 UFO sightings. 441 Americans were killed by lightning.* And just

13

(yes,13) credible cases of in-person voter impersonation.

 

Thirteen?

 

That's what all the fuss is about? That's why we're on track to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Dem...sorry, poor and elderly persons?

 

 

To explore the original question - 'why does the race card get played so much'. It seems understanding the background of some of the key players would good.

 

Valierie Jarrett

 

Her grand father was the first black Housing Authority chairman in Chicago. But his ideas and plans of integrated housing by spreading public housing works around Chicago was rejected by the Chicago council. This caused him to resign. He later built massive housing complexes that were originally thought to be the future but then became icons for the failure of hyper dense urban housing.

 

Certainly the public battles of her grandfather would shape Ms. Jarrett's views.

 

My Left Wing:: So Just Who Is Valerie Jarrett?

 

 

Michelle Roberts Obama

 

She basically grew up in Jessie Jackson's house. Jackson's anger at the establishment is obvious at times. He was there when Martin Luther King was killed. He carries deep scars of the 1960s race battles.

 

 

So as much as we would like to move on to post-race America. The two women closest to Obama and who have enormous power in this administration are no really post-race America children. They are direct decedents in a way of people who were in the midst of the 1950s and 1960s bitter race fights. These have likely shaped some of the thinking inside this administration.

 

Best post so far in attempting to address the original question.

mcpapa-those statistics were taken from The Ed Show. He has as much creditility as Hannity so I wouldn't hang my hat on them.

Excellent post with tremendous insight.

 

 

The 1960's have shaped a lot of blacks minds that are age 40 and over. Lots of emotional scars on that generation. A large percentage of that generation is going to see race in a majority of things that happen.

 

It's like I tell people, my father is a highly educated and well respected man in his workforce and he will tell you to your face that some of the troubles and lack of cooperation Obama has is because of his race. He's turning 65 this year so obviously he sees a lot of things in a racial aspect/perspective and with scars that I never received.

 

Best post so far in attempting to address the original question.

 

Thank you for responses.

 

While I picked on 'the ladies' of this administration I do also believe that Obama himself is an indirect 'child' of those who lived through the very racially divided 50s and 60s. Rarely do I dwell on his personal past and associations due the lightning rod nature but here is my view of how Obama himself has a similar connection as Ms. Jarrett and his wife.

 

In 1971 Obama returned back from 5 years of living in Indonesia. His immediate family at the time - his mother Stanley Ann Soetoro and step-father Lolo Soetoro did not return from Indonesia. His mother did end up returning a couple of years later. So in 1971 he was left in the guardianship of his grandparents. Being mixed-race apparently his white grandfather felt he needed insight from someone in the black or multi-race community. Though not well publicized it is known that that was Frank Marshall Davis. Mr. Davis was living in Hawaii at the time and had connections to the Dunham family. He is simply referred to as 'Frank' in Obamas biography. He was a national figure and was called to testify before Congress during the McCarthy hearings about his radical and communist ties. He had ties to Valerie Jarrett's father-in-law Vernon Jarrett in Chicago in post WWII 1940s. So here was a 'persecuted' man, a man who the establishment 'went after' providing insight to a young Obama during his teenage years. So Obama also had direct insight into what had to be characterized (and mostly) was a very bitter racial/political period, though he himself likely did not experience too much racism in multi-culteral, multi-race Hawaii.

 

This is from a 1987 interview with Davis. It shows his views. Certainly some of his views were projected to a young Obama in the 1970s in Hawaii.

 

"I am a protest writer because I think that the, the history of black people

of America is one of protest, and they have obtained their, their present

status by protesting and protesting and continuing to protest. So I think

that it is essential if there is

any desire to improve conditions. I, I, conditions now are so much, well

when I first began writing, say, the blacks had about, say, forty percent

of their justice and of the what was due to them as Americans. Through

long struggles, the, the civil rights movement and many such things and

court decisions so forth, we have now struggled up to where we have about

eighty percent of what we were due and we've still got twenty percent to

go."

 

http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/filmandmedia/images/davis_frank_marshall-transcript.pdf

 

While the 2008 election led to claims of 'post-racial America' I think that was still premature. Key players in this administration have very direct links to those who considered themselves leaders in the racial equality battle. Those roots come out time to time, especially under political pressure it seems. I am not saying I like it or it best for country. But the echos of the late 50s and 60s are still with us and this current administration.

Thank you for responses.

 

While I picked on 'the ladies' of this administration I do also believe that Obama himself is an indirect 'child' of those who lived through the very racially divided 50s and 60s. Rarely do I dwell on his personal past and associations due the lightning rod nature but here is my view of how Obama himself has a similar connection as Ms. Jarrett and his wife.

 

In 1971 Obama returned back from 5 years of living in Indonesia. His immediate family at the time - his mother Stanley Ann Soetoro and step-father Lolo Soetoro did not return from Indonesia. His mother did end up returning a couple of years later. So in 1971 he was left in the guardianship of his grandparents. Being mixed-race apparently his white grandfather felt he needed insight from someone in the black or multi-race community. Though not well publicized it is known that that was Frank Marshall Davis. Mr. Davis was living in Hawaii at the time and had connections to the Dunham family. He is simply referred to as 'Frank' in Obamas biography. He was a national figure and was called to testify before Congress during the McCarthy hearings about his radical and communist ties. He had ties to Valerie Jarrett's father-in-law Vernon Jarrett in Chicago in post WWII 1940s. So here was a 'persecuted' man, a man who the establishment 'went after' providing insight to a young Obama during his teenage years. So Obama also had direct insight into what had to be characterized (and mostly) was a very bitter racial/political period, though he himself likely did not experience too much racism in multi-culteral, multi-race Hawaii.

 

This is from a 1987 interview with Davis. It shows his views. Certainly some of his views were projected to a young Obama in the 1970s in Hawaii.

 

"I am a protest writer because I think that the, the history of black people

of America is one of protest, and they have obtained their, their present

status by protesting and protesting and continuing to protest. So I think

that it is essential if there is

any desire to improve conditions. I, I, conditions now are so much, well

when I first began writing, say, the blacks had about, say, forty percent

of their justice and of the what was due to them as Americans. Through

long struggles, the, the civil rights movement and many such things and

court decisions so forth, we have now struggled up to where we have about

eighty percent of what we were due and we've still got twenty percent to

go."

 

http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/filmandmedia/images/davis_frank_marshall-transcript.pdf

 

While the 2008 election led to claims of 'post-racial America' I think that was still premature. Key players in this administration have very direct links to those who considered themselves leaders in the racial equality battle. Those roots come out time to time, especially under political pressure it seems. I am not saying I like it or it best for country. But the echos of the late 50s and 60s are still with us and this current administration.

 

And I thank you again for this insight. I wish I could have of together a similar post. You nailed it once again.

 

 

And to go further...I am not condoning or siding with any racial claims made by the Obama administration but I understand where their feeling comes from. Understanding or searching for understanding as to why people feel the way they do about what they feel are racial inequalities is the first step towards healing those racial wounds.

 

Thank you, BGCard. Very informative things you have presented.

I'd love to know what was so insulting. All I see is the myriad of different perspectives which I thought was being done in a respectful tone.

 

To each his own.

 

Seriously? You don't think the insinuation that the Voting ID laws are being pushed and supported solely for the purpose of disenfranchising black, latinos and the poor so Romney wins is insulting? I sure as hell do.

Seriously? You don't think the insinuation that the Voting ID laws are being pushed and supported solely for the purpose of disenfranchising black, latinos and the poor so Romney wins is insulting? I sure as hell do.

 

I'll make my feelings clear. I very firmly believe that the polititians pushing these laws want to suppress democrat leaning voters. That does not mean that everyone that supports those laws has the same motivation. I think there are well meaning people that would not support voter supression that are being duped by those with a very political agenda. Duped is not something that I would normally associate with you, but there it is.

Seriously? You don't think the insinuation that the Voting ID laws are being pushed and supported solely for the purpose of disenfranchising black, latinos and the poor so Romney wins is insulting? I sure as hell do.

 

Folks can bury their heads in the sand or sugar-coat it all they want, but unfortunately, I think that is EXACTLY why this is being pushed. Given the timing, given the areas where this is happening, no other explanation fits.

I'll make my feelings clear. I very firmly believe that the polititians pushing these laws want to suppress democrat leaning voters. That does not mean that everyone that supports those laws has the same motivation. I think there are well meaning people that would not support voter supression that are being duped by those with a very political agenda. Duped is not something that I would normally associate with you, but there it is.

So only Dem voters don't have id's?

mcpapa-those statistics were taken from The Ed Show. He has as much creditility as Hannity so I wouldn't hang my hat on them.

 

I figured that several would take issue with the source.

 

Is there a "credible" source that we can go to that has statistics that refute these?

Seriously? You don't think the insinuation that the Voting ID laws are being pushed and supported solely for the purpose of disenfranchising black, latinos and the poor so Romney wins is insulting? I sure as hell do.

 

Insulting? Not really. I don't want to believe that is the motivation behind the Voter ID push but I don't find differing statements and beliefs about Voter ID insulting.

I figured that several would take issue with the source.

 

Is there a "credible" source that we can go to that has statistics that refute these?

 

Dare to dream.

I figured that several would take issue with the source.

 

Is there a "credible" source that we can go to that has statistics that refute these?

 

Don't know, I just know I suspect anything put out there by the "bomb throwers". Their statistics often are misleading.

 

Just curious, do you accept Hannity's or Rush's claims and statistics as truth also? I believe they're all a bunch of con artists.

Don't know, I just know I suspect anything put out there by the "bomb throwers". Their statistics often are misleading.

 

Just curious, do you accept Hannity's or Rush's claims and statistics as truth also? I believe they're all a bunch of con artists.

 

I have always thought the numbers were correct. The stories behind the numbers are what ends up being slanted and flawed.

So only Dem voters don't have id's?

 

Of course not, but the people without the required ID tend to be poor and minorities. Those people tend to vote Democratic.