"Obama was elected because he was black, McCain was 142 years old!"

[Landslide Lyndon]

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/05/01/lawmaker_says_obama_was_elected_because_he_was_black.html

Speaking at a town hall meeting, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) suggested President Obama was only elected president because he's an African-American.

Said Walsh: "He's our first African-American president. The country voted for him because of that. It made us feel good about ourself. I've said it before, it helped that John McCain was about 142 years old. It helped that the economy was tanking. A lot of these things helped. But he never would have gotten there without his historic nature."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9NsnQu3Oxug

[crypto-fascist superhero]

He's obviously joking, but that's true.  There's absolutely no way that Barry Dunham could've beaten Hillary Clinton.

[King]

And if Bush's name were George W. Robbins, he wouldn't have beaten McCain and Forbes.

[crypto-fascist superhero]

And if Bush's name were George W. Robbins, he wouldn't have beaten McCain and Forbes.

Depends, if he were somehow Governor of Texas anyway he probably would've done just as well if not better.  If Obama's biography were exactly the same except for being (or even appearing) white, there's absolutely no scenario in which he'd be able to beat Clinton for the nomination.

[Chaddyr23]

I didn't pick Obama cause he was black, I picked him cause he was a fresh and energizing face. There's nothing to show Obama beat Hillary simply cause he was black. Maybe some people didn't want to have (at least) 24 years of a Bush-Clinton dynasty.

[OC]

I didn't pick Obama cause he was black, I picked him cause he was a fresh and energizing face. There's nothing to show Obama beat Hillary simply cause he was black. Maybe some people didn't want to have (at least) 24 years of a Bush-Clinton dynasty.

Obama was picked because he was a new face and that included being black, being black in itself didn't only elect him. However skin tone did make a different he had the Doug Wilder effect, whereas Roland Burris and Jesse L Jackson Jr, themselves who were vying for upward mobility Roland for Gov in 1999 and Jesse Jackson Jr for Prez someday did have something to do with it.

[Senator Clarence]

I frankly care more about his offensive comment towards John McCain- he had also used offensive language about him in the past. This and that- along with his diminishing Duckworth's service- earn Walsh ZERO respect from me...

[Chaddyr23]

I just miss John McCain from 2000.

[MilesC56]

Well, I'm not very surprised at this comment...most people in my family agree with Walsh's assessment of Obama.

[You kip if you want to...]

Why does the GOP insist on making race such an issue? JEEEEEEEEZ

[Hatman]

How many politicians have been elected because they weren't black? A lot more than the inverse.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Joe Walsh believes that if Jesse Jackson had been nominated in 1984, he would have defeated Reagan in a landslide. OK.

[perdedor]

Rep. Joe Walsh is a disgrace to the name Joe Walsh.

[Nichlemn]

Joe Walsh believes that if Jesse Jackson had been nominated in 1984, he would have defeated Reagan in a landslide. OK.

It's of course silly to claim that being black gives a politician an insurmountable advantage. But I'm pretty sure Walsh wasn't claiming that. Indeed, it can be the case that blackness is a disadvantage a large majority of the time, but that Obama was one of the few cases in which it was an advantage. I doubt it made much of a net difference in the general, but I'm pretty sure it was a deciding factor in the primary, where winning as the underdog requires you to differentiate yourself from the crowd of other compotent politicians.

[Senator Napoleon]

This post I am typing contains more value than this thread ever intended.

[Communists For McCain]

This post I am typing contains more value than this thread ever intended.

Indeed, and I congratulate you on your success.

This thread, gentlemen, has been won!

You can all go home now.

[Gustaf]

It's debatable whether Obama gained anything from being black against McCain (I'd lean towards it essentially having no effect, with racism and energized black voters canceling out) and it's probably true he would have won anyway.

However, I think it is extremely clear that he would not have been the nominee had he been white. It's hard to forget that Bill Clinton used to be called the first black president. Clinton would probably have won the majority of the black vote against "white Obama" as well as still getting most of the rural whites. I don't really see a credible coalition for Obama to stop Hillary with without him having the black vote.

[Senator Clarence]

Gustaf- in addition I'd say his historic candidacy brought him many white voters as well...particularly young people who wanted to vote for the first black President

[Big Wiggly Style]

He's obviously joking, but that's true.  There's absolutely no way that Barry Dunham could've beaten Hillary Clinton.

This.

[Senator X]

This post I am typing contains more value than this thread ever intended.

Indeed, and I congratulate you on your success.

This thread, gentlemen, has been won!

You can all go home now.

[Senator Sbane]

Gustaf- in addition I'd say his historic candidacy brought him many white voters as well...particularly young people who wanted to vote for the first black President

Clinton would have won with a greater margin than Obama. I will bet everything on that, though of course there would be a different coalition. Being black did help him in the primary though.