As a historian I have always wondered which America would be ready for first, a black person or a female person. We may know that answer now, but we did have a lot of people voting based on bias. I recall a news anchor asking people about the race issue and a man replied that he wasn't racist but he wasn't voting for a balck man. Yeah, my husband and I sat with our mouths ajar. I also heard many say that they would not voter for a woman, so racism and sexism are still alive an kicking in America.GentleReader9 wrote: I meant that the general tenor of the race has been impacted by speculations in the media along the lines of "Is America ready for it's First Black President?" or pitting the supposed appeal/drawback of supporting women in the person of Hillary Clinton against the supposed appeal/drawback of supporting people of color in the person of Obama. This framing shows our society is still racist enough to seriously ask these questions. In a non-racist, non-sexist society candidates would be assessed according to their stand on issues and whether or not they had the skills and experience that make a person a good president. Period.
I wonder how much racism figured into the results of our election. Remember, racism is not just whites against all others - it works both ways. In my county the population is approximately 98% white - McCain won the local election, but in the state of Virginia the numbers are much lower (67% white non-hispanic in 2006) and Obama won the state. The US percentage was also lower in 2006 - 64%.
