The charge that racism drives opposition to Obama is gratuitous demagoguery.

Many Obama supporters charge that whites who oppose Obama are “racist”, such as in this article by leftwing activist Malik Miah:

http://www.GreenLeft.org.au/2008/762/39334

But if Barack Obama loses this election, it won’t be due to race.  It will be because he is perceived as much further to the left than he now presents himself, and because people just don’t know him.  He’s only been on the national scene for 3 short years.

Obama’s skilled oratory is wearing thin, and voters are beginning to look at his record, such as it is.  His associations with convicted Mafia figure Tony Rezko, the Rev. “God d*mn America” Wright, convicted terrorist Bill Ayers, and his financial involvements with sleazy real estate developers, may be just the tip of the iceberg.  Obama won’t lose because he’s black; he’ll lose because people just don’t trust him.

Where does Miah get his figure that 23% of white Americans will not vote for a black man?   According to the Gallop survey, only 6% of white Americans say they are “less likely” to vote for a black man, while 93% of whites say race makes “no difference” or they are “more likely” to vote for a candidate because he is black.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/107770/Most-Say-Race-Will-Factor-Their-Presidential-Vote.aspx

Indeed, polls since 1996 have shown that Colin Powell would easily beat all other candidates, of both parties, were he to run for president.

Why would white America readily elect Colin Powell as president but not Obama?  Because Powell is widely perceived as center-right, as not having a hidden radical agenda, and as a familiar figure who has been on the national scene for many years.  This election is not about race; for most Americans, it’s about trustworthiness.

Miah is determined to see “racism” in every aspect of this presidential campaign when it just isn’t there.  Take, for example, McCain’s ad using the images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

The ad was meant to compare the celebrity worship of Obama to that of pop-stars.  It was a comment about the blind adulation of fans who are clueless on issues but easily swept by style and clichés.  The ad had no racial message whatsoever.

Miah projects his own ideological racial analysis upon the US presidential election.  Problem is, his racial analysis is based upon so much circular reasoning rather than the real facts of the US electorate in 2008.

Most fair-minded white Americans do not feel compelled to vote for a candidate just because he is black.  We just don't see Mr. Obama as the Second Coming of Christ, and we do see Mr. McCain, for all his faults, as more solid and trustworthy.