<p>Back in the day, it wouldn’t even have been a subject for controversy whether “liberals” were “racist”. Of course they were. People who were self-defined “liberals” had negotiated with themselves over the extent of the personal commitment they had to make to social change, including dismantling the system of racial privilege that mini properly calls “racism”, and had convinced themselves that it was OK to take an incremental approach, and thus to continue to enjoy the benefits of racial privilege. Liberalism and (moderate) racism were, for all practical purposes, an identity. That was the line between Leonard Boudin, a famous liberal lawyer, and his daughter Kathy, a violent revolutionary, convicted bomber, fugitive, federal inmate . . . Even today, every thoughtful, sophisticated liberal of my generation will, in the proper context, more or less automatically admit to being a racist, as a sign of understanding what and who one is.</p>
<p>That hardly gets “conservatives” off the hook, however. Sure, it is theoretically possible that and individual could be politically conservative out of a deep, considered conviction that conservative political principals are the only certain means for dismantling the system of racism. I’ve met a handful of such people, although since they were mostly white and enjoyed the benefits of racial privilege their convictions were a little suspect, but I don’t doubt their good faith. Thomas Sowell and Clarence Thomas may be such conservatives, too, although that is subject to debate. But the vast majority of political conservatives are not only contented beneficiaries of racial priviege, but enthusiastic defenders of the status quo. For the most part, political conservatism and racism is an identity, too.</p>
<p>So, of course a conservative wouldn’t vote for Obama if his name were Al Gore or Jack Kennedy and he were white as snow. But all that means is that he or she didn’t vote for Gore or Kerry out of racism. I don’t see the moral value of being so racist that one would never even get to the point of considering voting for a mainstream candidate of color, because that candidate’s political position would almost certainly be a challenge to the system of racial privilege that the voter enjoys.</p>
<p>As for Obama, “race prejudice” --not racism – plays a small, but important part in his electoral prospects. Certainly there are some people who might otherwise be Democratic voters but who either will not vote for a black candidate or feel uncomfortable with aspects of Obama’s personality and presentation that derive from his identification as an African-American. Traditionally, one could gauge that by a fairly standard difference between black candidates’ polling numbers and their actual vote totals, which in the past has tended to be around 5%. That held true for some of the early Democratic primary contests, but as the Obama campaign picked up speed it tended to vanish in the later contests. That’s one of the reasons why even some sophisticated political types see him as a legitimately transformative candidate.</p>
<p>And as for me, liberal racist that I am, my heart is going to be bursting with pride (and self-satisfaction) as I cast my vote for Obama in November. They should have cameras in the voting booths, like at the end of the flume rides at Six Flags, so they can sell people like me pictures of themselves enjoying that historic moment. Many of my conservative (racist) friends are not so different. They plan to vote for McCain, of course, but if Obama wins it will deepen their pride that they live in the greatest country on Earth, the one that has finally overcome racism. As if.</p>
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