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Clinton and Obama
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Monday, February 25, 2008
Black Man Vs. White Woman
Gender stereotypes vs. racial ones. Which bias runs deeper in the American psyche? The answer can explain many of the unjustified and vicious attacks on Clinton.
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“When a sexist idiot screamed “Iron my shirt!” at Hillary, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted “Shine my shoes!” at Barack, it would’ve inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor.”
Black Man vs. White Woman
Drake Bennett in The Boston Globe
Since Barack Obama emerged as a serious challenger to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, the primaries have become, in part, a referendum on whether Americans are more prepared for a woman or a black man in the White House. The voting has been parsed for signs that the candidates are drawing supporters beyond their particular "minority" " demographic. Over the past month and a half, the feminist pioneers Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan have both published widely talked-about essays arguing that Clinton would have long since sewn up the nomination if not for the stubbornness of our national sexism. And when Clinton's primary victory in New Hampshire last month caught everyone by surprise, some analysts suggested that the polls had been so wrong beforehand in part because voters in the overwhelmingly white state had been reluctant to share their true, race-based reservations about Obama.
The discussion so far has been rather short on data. There have been surveys asking whether Americans would vote for a black or female candidate for President -- according to a December 2007 Gallup poll, 93 percent and 86 percent, respectively, say they would. Those answers should be interpreted with some skepticism, however, because people are often unaware of their biases and don't tend to reveal them honestly in surveys.
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