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This article by Andrew Hacker in the NY Review of Books, Obama: The Price of Being Black, is a pretty good run-down of some of the obstacles Barack Obama must overcome in order to be elected President of the United States.

I am certainly with Hacker on the voter suppression measures that have been put in place over the last several years. These measures include photo i.d. laws, various kinds of voter roll purges, and disenfranchising felons. While they affect all of the poor and the elderly, their biggest impact is on the African-American community. Such laws are at best classist, designed to keep the affluent and educated in control of the country. At worst, they seem designed to return us to the Jim Crow days of the early 20^th Century. They are a form of institutionalized racism/classism, and any self-respecting liberal should fight them vigorously.

On the level of individual choice, though he tells us how careful he is not to use the term racism, Hacker seems to repeat the Catch-22 of this election for white voters. There is no way to choose to vote for or not to vote for Obama that is not somehow tinged with racial guilt. The key sentence is here:

Almost all people who reject black candidates say they have nonracial reasons for doing so. And many undoubtedly believe what they’re saying.

That “many undoubtedly believe” speaks volumes. In plain English, it says “white voters may think they have nonracial reasons for rejecting Barack Obama but they are lying to themselves.”

I am in no way denying that racism is being used against Barack Obama. Appeals to racist fears is a tried-and-true Republican tactic for running against a Democrat. Reference George H. W. Bush’s Willy Horton ad, which was one of the most vicious pieces of dirty politics I’ve seen in my lifetime. For specifics about how this tactic is coming down in this particular election, you have only to read Melissa McEwans series: Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch which is now up to #80. Or look at this.

But what Hacker says allows for no possibility that any group of white voters might have legitimate questions about Obama. Unfortunately,arguing this racism Catch-22 hurts Obama, because it lends itself to the interpretation that accusations of racism are being used to shut people up. Insofar as this silencing tactic has been used by Obama supporters, it also cheapens the charge of racism and will make it more difficult to fight real racism (as in voter i.d. laws) in future.

In much the same way, Anglachel has argued that sexist opposition to both both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin has hurt Obama.

The politics of division just doesn’t work for liberals.

I find Hacker’s final paragraph, with its nudge-nudge suggestion to manipulate whitey, insulting:

Michael Tomasky has said that to win, Barack Obama “will need to build multiracial coalitions.” [8] What seems more needed, in my view, are two parallel campaigns: a quiet one to assure a maximum black turnout, and a more public one to make the most of the white backing the Obama-Biden ticket already has. His rallies, appearances, and advertisements would benefit from featuring white faces, and they should be accompanied by endorsements from white military veterans, union leaders, police chiefs, and firemen. His black supporters will know what is going on, and not take this as a rebuff.

To which I can only reply with Lambert’s reprise of “It’s the economy, stupid.” See Anglachel’s current journal for more on the way the Democratic party has turned tone-deaf to economic concerns. It might be argued that the real constituency that is being asked to tolerate the wink-wink nudge-nudge of this election is the working class poor. That includes both black and white, who often work side by side peaceably enough. The message is, we’re gonna talk about all this abstract stuff like “change” but you’re to understand that this is what we have to do to get elected. After we’re elected, we’ll take care of you.

But while poor African-Americans have a favorite-son reason for voting Obama, poor whites do not. As Anglachel points out, if they’re not given economic reassurance, they’ll vote culture issues (i.e., cling).

See also Obama and the Closing of the American Dream:

How can Barack Obama, a man who only recently paid off his student loans and who lives a relatively modest life in Chicago’s Hyde Park, a few blocks from one of America’s poorest neighborhoods, be more “elitist” than John McCain, the son of an admiral (not to mention the husband of a beer heiress), or more “elitist” than Hillary and Bill Clinton, a couple whose joint earnings since 2000 top 100 million dollars? Yet the E-word, and the charge that Obama is out of touch with the experiences of white, blue-collar workers, first leveled against Obama by the Clintons during the primary race, still hang heavy over his otherwise charmed campaign.

These charges stick around not because of the working-class credentials or commitments of Obama’s opponents, but because of a problem inherent in contemporary politics that neither party ever addresses, that highly educated professionals are the driving force, financially and politically, behind both major parties. The Democratic leadership particularly continues to present itself as the best hope for the working class, while sharing few economic interests and fewer cultural experiences (now rebranded as “values”) with the people it claims to represent.

Meanwhile, a correspondent has brought my attention to these Rantings of a P.T.A. Mom in the NYTimes. The money quote:

Let us just say that if Mr. and Mrs. Obama � a dynamic, Harvard-educated couple � had chosen public over private school, they could have lifted up not just their one local public school, but a family of schools. First, given the social pressure (or the social persuasion of wanting to belong to the cool club), more educated, affluent families would tip back into the public school fold. And second, the presence of educated type-A parents with too much time on their hands ensures that schools are held, daily, to high standards.

But the significance of educated families opting in to their local public schools goes deeper than that. Research done by Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, indicates that poor children benefit hugely by mixing, daily, with middle-class children (particularly those from families who value education). Conversely, as long as the deleterious effects of poverty, like rampant absenteeism and serious health issues, do not overwhelm the school culture, middle-class children suffer no ill effects. Furthermore, studies have shown that new immigrant children learn English faster and master the complex linguistic skills they need to succeed on standardized tests when they are in classrooms with native English speakers. Sadly, because of the widespread flight of higher-minded families, ethnic segregation (not to mention class segregation) in public schools today is so extreme that only one in five immigrant children will have even one native English-speaking friend.

I am avidly in favor of public schools. The right to a free and equal education is one of the fundamental strengths of our democracy. It also gives poor people a strong tool for moving up through the class system.

Separate but equal does not work.

While I understand a parent’s urge to do what is best for his or her individual child, I abhor the way the affluent and educated have abandoned our public school system rather than fight for it. Here again we’re up against a rampant classism.

Lest you think this is just my pick-on-Obama day, the author goes on to mention that the McCains are just as, if not more, guilty than the Obamas. She ends thus:

And yes, I know I appear to be ranting on like a pit bull without lipstick, which brings me to the final nail in the coffin in this sorry election year. As a Democrat I am horrified that Sarah Palin is the one who snagged the deeply profound � and absolutely ignored by professional smart people � emotional real estate of �P.T.A. mother.� I too am, in fact, not just �my kids� mom� but their Title I Los Angeles public school P.T.A. secretary. This unheard female howl is, for better or worse, what Ms. Palin has set out to tap into; it is real, and I am sick that we�ve let the Republicans charge this ground.
Sarah Palin�s children went to what looks like a humble little public school: Iditarod Elementary on Wasilla Fishhook Road. The school�s score on www.greatschools.net is a 4. That�s a lot of street cred, for a gun-totin�, snow-mobilin� creationist-lovin� lady.

Oh, I�m such a depressed, Democrat P.T.A. mother.

Meanwhile, I will try to redeem myself by pointing out this blog you might want to take notice of, or to which you might want to contribute: Women Against Sarah Palin

Update: Oh dear, Willie Brown also is advising Obama to go under the radar for the African-American vote. Maybe there’s something I’m not understanding here.

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