Progress Illinois

Think the nation has gotten over its race problem? Roger Simon, in his Politico column on Monday, highlighted a disturbing poll that suggests otherwise:

An AP-Yahoo poll conducted April 2-14 found that “about 8 percent of whites would be uncomfortable voting for a black for president.”

I don’t know if 8 percent sounds high or low to you, but I was amazed that 8 percent of respondents were willing to admit this to a pollster. And I figure that the true figure is much higher.

The same poll, by the way, found that 15 percent of voters think Obama is a Muslim. He is, in fact, a Christian. But thinking a person is a Muslim probably does not encourage you to vote for him in America today.

Smear emails are a huge source of disinformation about Obama's religion and views on race, as we've discussed before. Take this message that recently floated into the Progress Illinois mailbox:

Pay close attention to the last comment!! Below are a few lines from Obama's books " his words:

From Dreams of My Father: "I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."

From Dreams of My Father : "I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race."

From Dreams of My Father: "There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white."

From Dreams of My Father: ; "It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."

From Dreams of My Father: "I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela."

From Audacity of Hope: "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." [Emphasis added]

Not surprisingly, when read in context, the "last comment!" is entirely sensible. On page 261 of The Audacity Of Hope, Obama simply wrote that he would defend Arab-Americans if their basic civil liberties were threatened by the U.S. government:

Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

It's clear that the right-wing is going to tacitly push this meme -- Obama as an unpatriotic, black nationalist, Muslim -- throughout the campaign while the GOP will publicly disregard it. In the old days, political operatives would spread such smears via word of mouth. But these "whisper campaigns" now proliferate electronically, and there's reason to believe that they have a significant effect. So in the interest of depicting the full political landscape this election year, we'll occasionally be highlighting particularly egregious smear emails that we receive.