“The party will explicitly abandon the white working class”

November 28, 2011 | Filed under 2012 Presidential Race,Barack Obama,Race | Posted by

The New York Times has details:

Obama-laughingFor decades, Democrats have suffered continuous and increasingly severe losses among white voters. But preparations by Democratic operatives for the 2012 election make it clear for the first time that the party will explicitly abandon the white working class.

All pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned in favor of cementing a center-left coalition made up, on the one hand, of voters who have gotten ahead on the basis of educational attainment — professors, artists, designers, editors, human resources managers, lawyers, librarians, social workers, teachers and therapists — and a second, substantial constituency of lower-income voters who are disproportionately African-American and Hispanic.

It is instructive to trace the evolution of a political strategy based on securing this coalition in the writings and comments, over time, of such Democratic analysts as Stanley Greenberg and Ruy Teixeira. Both men were initially determined to win back the white working-class majority, but both currently advocate a revised Democratic alliance in which whites without college degrees are effectively replaced by well-educated socially liberal whites in alliance with the growing ranks of less affluent minority voters, especially Hispanics.

The 2012 approach treats white voters without college degrees as an unattainable cohort. The Democratic goal with these voters is to keep Republican winning margins to manageable levels, in the 12 to 15 percent range, as opposed to the 30-point margin of 2010 — a level at which even solid wins among minorities and other constituencies are not enough to produce Democratic victories.

So… if you’re white… you’re the wrong color according to Obama and his strategists.

In other news… water is wet, the sky is blue and Jeremiah Wright was once Obama’s pastor… for over 20 years.

Just sayin’.

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Posted by on November 28, 2011.
Filed under 2012 Presidential Race, Barack Obama, Race.
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  • Anonymous

    Well the Democrats have it pretty well covered then.  They’ve got their “educated, ruling elite” and then they’ve got the minorities who have to be “managed”.

    Ain’t that sweet!

    • http://profiles.google.com/elilla.shadowheart Elilla Shadowheart

      Tastes…like…communism.

  • http://www.rustedsky.net Anonymous

    ‘Classless society’ my ass.  Say weren’t the OWS folks worried about a stratification of society, and it being impossible to work your way up to a higher social level?

    Seems to me it’s the Dems who are working hard to make that a certainty…

    • Anonymous

      A society run by the left?  Of course there is no class.  Or basic hygiene.  Just look at the OWS camps.

  • Anonymous

    This makes perfect sense.

    The dems have no clue about fiscal accountability or restraint, they’re race-obsessed, corrupt, tax-avoiders/cheaters and they have no morals and loathe religion (except one).

    As such, they have nothing in common whatsoever with the white working class.

    Besides, after branding them all as racists, they burned that bridge to the ground.

  • Oysteria

    “All pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned in favor of cementing a center-left coalition made up, on the one hand, of voters who have gotten ahead on the basis of educational attainment — professors, artists, designers, editors, human resources managers, lawyers, librarians, social workers, teachers and therapists…

    Fine by me.  We’ll keep the welders, carpenters, rough necks, truckers, auto-repairmen, machinists, electricians, plumbers, etc.  Then we’ll see who is better suited to rebuild the world after the others destroy it.

  • Anonymous

    What the NYT article says:

    “Two important and influential Democratic operatives have written a strategic plan for 2012 which relies even less than in the past on white working class voters. This a departure from some of their previous writings.”

    What Rick Rice got from it:

    “Obama hates white people.”

    Predictable as clockwork.

    • retired.military

      Here BruceHenry let me rewrite this.

      “Two important and influential Democratic operatives have written a strategic plan for 2012 which relies even less than in the past on white working class voters. This a departure from some of their previous writings.”‘

      and change it into this

      Dateline 2004

      Two important and influential REPUBLICAN operatives have written a strategic plan for 2012 which relies even less than in the past on BLACK  voters. This a departure from some of their previous writings.”

      Gee think that there would be calls of racism from the likes of ABC, NBC, CBS, WAPO NY TIMES, Jesse and Al, and the list goes on?

      That was a question Bruce.  Your response would be appreciated.

      BTW Bruce. Highest % of blacks to vote for a republican presidential candidate – about 15% at the most.

      Highest % of working class whites to vote for a democrat for president – 40ish at a minimum.

      Do you see the dicotomy there Bruce?

      • Anonymous

        Haha you’d have a point there except that it happened in 1968 and was called the “Southern strategy” and is still in effect today.

        Since then, the closest the GOP has come to courting black voters has been their cynical 2004 attempt to peel off some black social conservatives with their “No Gay Marriage” plank. To a certain extent, it worked, too. Biggest share of the black vote for a Republican in many years.

        • retired.military

          Bruce

          Not wanting to google history so forgive me for checking your statements. However, I extremely disagree with your statement that it is still in effect today (nor has been in effect for at least the past 20+ years.)

          However you did miss the question I asked.

          that being

          “Gee think that there would be calls of racism from the likes of ABC, NBC, CBS, WAPO NY TIMES, Jesse and Al, and the list goes on?
          ‘

          Or to put the question I asked a bit more clearer.

          if the republicans had tried this in 2004 /2008/2010 would there not be howls of racism from the left?  (Yes or no please and an explanation if you wish- Thanks).

          If you answered it than I apologize for missing your finesse. I prefer nice simple yes/no answers as it leaves a lot less to interpretation.

          BTW Bruce
          Wasn the 60s when McGovern (D) wouldnt allow blacks in schools and fought desegregation? When the democratic sheriff used water hoses and his dogs to keep blacks from voting?

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1968#National_voter_demographics
          African-American neighborhoods
          Afrian American neighborhoods (website;s terminology)
          94 % humphrey

          5 % Nixon

          1 % Wallace (who was a stone racist.

          I cant find demographics for pre 1964 (probably becuase not that many African americans voted).

          So the African American vote has pretty much always been solidly democrat. What has that gotten them.

          Highest rate of poverty per 100,000 – African Americans
          Highest illiteracy rate per 100,000 African Americans (though I belive Native Americans may have this one).
          Highest unemployment rate per 100,000 African Americans

          Shall I go on with the depressing statistics of African Americans under the past 40+ years of backing democrats.

          What is the definition of insanity Bruce? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

          How does that play into this conversation.
          a. African Americans voting for dems and actually expecting their plight to be improved by dem politicians.
          b. republicans spending an inordinate amount of time going after the African American vote.

          Thanks

          • jim_m

            Of course the blacks were voting democrat.  In the South the Klan was hanging GOP candidates so what was the point of voting for someone the racist dems were just going to murder?

          • Anonymous

            Shorter RM: “Black people are too stupid to realize they’re being taken for granted.”

            Why would black people distrust Republicans since 1968? Oh, I don’t know..

            .Maybe that the 1964 GOP nominee  was opposed to the CRA and the VRA?  Maybe Nixon’s “law and order” rhetoric and his elevation of the “Silent Majority” (read “white people”)? Maybe Reagan’s launch of his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia, MS with a speech about “states’ rights”? Maybe the 1988 Willie Horton ads? Maybe Reagan’s repeated lies about his mythological “welfare queen”? Maybe Jesse Helms’ “white hands” TV ads in 1990? Atwater’s famous quote about how you start out saying,”n****r” and end up saying “tax cuts”? Or maybe it’s today’s demonization of poor people as lazyass lucky-duckies who don’t pay income tax?

            Just guesses.

          • retired.military

            Bruce

            Not too much time to go one by one but will do a few that I dont have to actually look in to to remember.

            I will pick out one or two.
            The welfare queen .
            As one who grew up during the 70s in the poor poor (projects) inner city. I can attest that the welfare queens were and still are there.
            I can also distinctly remember my aunt telling my cousins (all staunch democrats) as they were in the late teens. “You need to have more babies so you can get more welfare money”.

            Also as I recall Helms used to be a dem. 

            Also bruce
            50% of the taxpayers only pay 3% of the income taxes.  I dont believe that the poor are deemed as lazy, however, I do deem them as not paying their fair share of taxes.

            Also

            “Black people are too stupid to realize they’re being taken for granted.”

            That is not what I said nor meant.  WHat I said you can read above. WHy does this happen?  Because African American “leaders” are solidly in the democrat camp and are more than happy to keep people there.  Hell even Al Sharpton has stated that the dems are take the black vote for granted.  My mother falls into the same pattern.  She firmly believes that that dems are for the poor. She has been a democrat all her life.  She has been poor all her life.    The same thing happened after the civil war.  Blacks stayed working at the plantations (and thus sold their soul tot he company store – I am sure you know the meaning behind that statement) because they didnt know any better.

            Also Bruce
            You chose

            “”Black people are too stupid to realize they’re being taken for granted.”‘
            Why didnt you choose

            “”republicans are too stupid to realize they’re never going to get the black vote”"

            ANd you never answered my question Bruce. Let me ask it yet agani.

            if the republicans had tried this in 2004 /2008/2010 would there not be howls of racism from the left? (Yes or no please and an explanation if you wish- Thanks).

            That is the THIRD TIME I have asked for simple YES OR NO answer Bruce. You have DODGED the question TWICE. Please answer the QUESTION.

            And since you want to talk about the 60s try throwing in a blurb about Robert Byrd and the KKK, school desegragation, McGovern, the democratic sheriff with the dogs, Jim Crow laws and Al Gore’s father – the Senator.
            Yet you ask why blacks would trust the republicans in the 60s. Exactly what did the dems in the 60s offer them? Beatings, Jim Crow laws, jail, unequal schools, and discrimination.

          • Anonymous

            1968 marked the time that the Republicans once and for all abandoned any hope of winning the black vote nationwide, in an attempt to secure the loyalty of mouth-breathing Southern whites who had been loyal to the Democratic party since the Civil War, because the Democratic party consisted of a coalition of liberal Northerners and conservative racist Southerners. When LBJ destroyed that coalition by pushing for and signing the CRA of 1964 and the VRA of 1965, the GOP saw its opening.

            Whites like Helms and Thurmond, etc., left the Dems in droves and went to the GOP. Others, like Wallace, stayed and tried to keep the old racist program in place, but soon found they were dinosaurs. Still others, like Byrd, slowly (ever so slowly, in his case!) came around to the new reality. Others just plain retired or died, like Gore Sr.

            You’re just plain mistaken about George McGovern, RM.

            Oh, and yes, there would probably be claims of racism if the parties were reversed, as you asked. Would those claims be justified? If not, why do you think THESE claims are? Or, if you don’t, why are you acting as if they are, or rationalizing them?

            So, if I understand your position, it’s OK to make unjustified claims of racism because, if the shoe was on the other foot, your opponents probably would? That about sum it up?

          • retired.military

            “So, if I understand your position, it’s OK to make unjustified claims of racism because, if the shoe was on the other foot, your opponents probably would? That about sum it up?      ‘

            No it does not Bruce.

            I think any unjustified claims of racism are out of bounds, unlike the dems who do it just about daily.

            As I stated above.  You want to bring up the 60s yet you fail to mention Jim Crow,

            Please show me the stats on the black vote prior to 1968.  I know I couldnt find them at all.  Maybe they were doing as you said above and allocating resources.

            “pushing for and signing the CRA of 1964 and the VRA of 1965, the GOP saw its opening.”
            You forget that a greater portion of republicans voted for the those acts than did democrats. 

            Oh wait

            “Still others, like Byrd, slowly (ever so slowly, in his case!) came around to the new reality’

            You give Byrd the benefit of the doubt but not THurmond or Helms.  I particularly didnt care for any of the 3. 
            As for McGovern.  I distinctly remember McGovern running for President and a lot of the things that were said regarding his stance on blacks and it wasnt pretty.

            Thanks for answering my question though.  3rd or 4th time is the charm.  You do better than other libs though Bruce I will at least give you your due.

            ” Would those claims be justified? If not, why do you think THESE claims are?”

            That would be a difficult question to answer. It would have to be because of the state of the mind of the person whose campaign you are talking about and their motivations.    Is the statement from the dems above stem from racism?  Dont know. I do know that you dont see anyone in the media even suggesting it.  Yet there are cries of racism from the media for even the mere act of disagreeing with Obama.  In my mind that cheapens accusations of ACTUAL racism and makes it harder to try to get rid of the crap.
              On face value NO.  Racism is not a valid claim in this case and I say that because there is no proof otherwise.  Yet as I stated and continue to believe if republicans had made similar statements about black it would be headlines of racism for years. 
             

            In my mind Bruce the dems have done African Americans no justice for the support they receive.  I believe they are worse off than ever before because of the actions of the dems.  That goes for poor people in general.  Try to teach self reliance instead of dependence is much better for the person being taught.  I learned that the hard way growing up in a one parent (most of the time) household and in extreme poverty (ever had chicken boulion soup as the one meal of the day?)  So I learned to do for myself and it has done me well.  I cant see why others cant do that as well.    At the same time some republicans have not done the poor or pick your minority any favors either.

    • http://www.brutallyhonest.org Rick Rice

      Ya gotta love Bruce Henry playing the predictable card… sup Kettle?

      If I were to spend 20 years in a church run by David Duke, would you be surprised if as a candidate, I would jump all over a strategy that is dismissive of blacks?

      If I and the party I led were quick to use divisive politics that play up the differences in skin color, would you be surprised if I decided that my campaign would adopt a strategy that dismisses the vast majority of one particular race?

      Your pet President is the most divisive, most alienating, most anti-American President we have ever seen… and we’re now seeing a campaign strategy that does nothing more than make the case for it…

      • Anonymous

        Does the article state, or even suggest, that the 2012 strategy is to “use divisive politics that play up the difference in skin color”? No?

        No. It says that the Obama team is going to try to build a coalition of minorities and educated whites, and not try particularly hard to appeal to working-class whites. There IS a difference, you know.

        That’s just it, though, Rick — you DO know — but you want to make it look like something sinister. Why is that, pray tell?

         Actually, it’s nothing more than a plan of allocating finite campaign resources.

    • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

      It’s always difficult to discern whether your posts are based upon stupidity or dishonesty or both.

      Read the second quoted paragraph from the NYT story above, and suck on it.

      • Anonymous

        I don’t get where that paragraph contradicts me. Please elucidate.

  • m_laprarie

    (for some reason my Facebook login isn’t working)

    Actually Rick, you’ve got this all wrong.  If you are white, highly educated, and in the top 5% of income earners, the Democrats will welcome you with open arms. 

    They’ll also welcome you if you are undereducated and mired in poverty (or permanently dependent on government assistance), particularly if you are Black or Hispanic.

    A “coalition” of the 1%, and the bottom tier of the 99%.  Wow.  What could possibly go wrong?

  • John H

    What is most interesting about this to me is that the dems are explicitly saying the color of your skin matters more than your situation in life. Two guys go to the same plant and do the same job. They each have a family they support. They face the same issues of economic uncertainty, rising prices, etc. But because one is Black and the other white, the dems think that politically they should react differently. The dems aren’t arguing for principles or ideals, just blatant racism. And of course this has turned out so well for the minorities that vote in lock step with the dems given minority unemployment, incarceration, education, etc. (/snark off/). 
    It will also be interesting to see how well they can hold together the “educated whites” and “minorities” coalition. The venn diagram for where the interests of those two groups coincide would be interesting. 
    This is also an indictment of unions who are the major bank rollers of the dems. If working class whites interests don’t line up with the dems, then how does the union interests line up with the working class whites.
    Next years election is going to be interesting and I suspect interesting in a 2010 election sort of way.

    • Oysteria

      Since Obama became president all I’ve heard is politics based on skin color.  Everything is viewed through the prism of color – and I mean everything.  When Holder said we were a nation of cowards who didn’t want an honest discussion of race he was right.  The left is making that abundantly clear.  They do not want an honest discussion.  They want to cast aspersions and shout “Rasist!”.  They think that’s the “discussion”.

  • Anonymous

    It seems to me that the working class is taking it on the chin with this administration so I’m not so sure this is a strategy so much as it’s the only option left for them.