A Different Kind of President

The liberal mind is a wonderful thing to behold. The New York Times has a story today indicating the difficulty union activists are having flipping their voters to Obama. They blame that difficulty on racism.

Still, Mr. Obama’s race has complicated labor’s efforts. When canvassers knock on doors, some voters do not acknowledge race explicitly, said Mr. Rainey, the U.A.W. leader. “The main reason you get is, ‘I don’t trust him because I don’t know him.’ ”

Which, I suppose, we are all to assume is because they're bigots. Couldn't be because, like they say, they don't know him?

Karen Ackerman, political director of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said: “We’re very conscious of the fact that many voters have never voted for an African-American for any office. For some voters, including union voters, particularly older voters, there is a reluctance.”

It wouldn't have anything to do with Barack having no track record, not a single accomplishment that he can point to that would indicate a desire, and ability, to be the change agent he claims to represent?

Ms. Ackerman said Mr. Obama was also new to the political scene, so people have not had time to get used to him. “We are trying to peel away what obstacles people have, union member by union member,” she said.

The above three paragraphs that I've excerpted from the Times story are taken in order. Notice that in the first one, the claim of Obama's newness as an impediment is offered as code for "he's black, and I'm a racist." Two paragraphs later, another leader mentions that Barack is new to the political scene, apparently as a legitimate reason, in her mind, for why members are slow to embrace him.

The story further argues against it's own thesis by presenting evidence that once union members learn about his positions on issues, they're more inclined to vote for Barack.

Mr. Rainey said his wife had warned him that Mr. Obama would lose if voters were not able to distinguish his economic policies from Mr. McCain’s. “There hasn’t been anything on the issues and it’s going to be crunch time,” Mr. Rainey said, “and people have to understand where these presidential candidates stand on economic issues.”

Why are they having success with this approach, providing information about the new guy, if race creates so much resistance?

Yet union canvassers are also confronting an unprecedented factor in this election — Mr. Obama’s race — making the effects of their door-to-door appeals less predictable.

MacDavis Slade, a political activist with the painters’ union, said that was why “some people are having a hard time seeing things for what they are or hearing what he has to say.”

“I think race is playing a major part,” Mr. Slade said. “I think that’s why some people say, ‘Isn’t he a Muslim?’ ”

It wouldn't have anything to do with his being new on the political scene with no experience to justify his being given a job of this magnitude? Wouldn't a better theme for the story have been - Obama inexperience makes for tough sell to union members?