How racist are we?

Are black people lazy? Violent? Responsible for their own problems? An Associated Press story the other day pointed out that, in a close election, racism could spell the difference between Barack Obama going to the White House or back to the Senate. An AP-Yahoo News poll conducted in conjunction with Stanford University found that one-third of white Democrats, people who might typically be considered Obama's base, have negative views toward black people. The figures were higher among independents, who could well swing the election to either Obama or John McCain. And the poll said those who harbor the negative perceptions are less likely to back Obama than those who don't. Here are some excerpts from the AP story on the poll:

- Given a choice of several positive and negative adjectives that might describe blacks, 20 percent of all whites said the word "violent" strongly applied. Among other words, 22 percent agreed with "boastful," 29 percent "complaining," 13 percent "lazy" and 11 percent "irresponsible." When asked about positive adjectives, whites were more likely to stay on the fence than give a strongly positive assessment.

- Among white Democrats, Hillary Clinton supporters were nearly twice as likely as Obama backers to say at least one negative adjective described blacks well, a finding that suggests many of her supporters in the primaries - particularly whites with high school education or less - were motivated in part by racial attitudes.

- "We still don't like black people," said John Clouse, 57, reflecting the sentiments of his pals gathered at a coffee shop in Somerset, Ohio.

Sad, but not surprising. Exit polling from the Democratic primaries in West Virginia and Kentucky revealed a significant level of racism among Clinton's supporters, and there's no reason to believe that would change in the November election. That's why you don't see Obama campaigning in those states. It's a lost cause. And if John Clouse is any indication, Obama also may be facing an uphill fight in the key state of Ohio. Personally, I'd vote for a black Muslim communist transgender woman if I thought she/he was the best person to lead our country for the next four years, but I'm going to venture a guess that I would be in the minority. If a person opposes Obama's views and feels McCain better represents their concerns, they should obviously vote for McCain, without fear of being labeled a racist. But if a person supports Obama's positions yet votes against him solely because he's black, they should be ashamed. Perhaps Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman, who helped analyze the survey, summed it up best when he said, "There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean there's only a few bigots."