4 ms·

How did Obama's strategy harvest racial tensions? I genuinely want to know. Can you link me to something?

by 32qwef 8y ago

byebyetech 8y ago
I am curious about that statement too. Maybe the argument was something like "Black man is running for President." That fact alone was enough to cause racial tensions.
bryanlarsen 8y ago
Obama harvested votes from people convinced that his election would ease racial tensions.
- 32qwef 8y ago
  You and some other commenters in the replies are making this claim. So yeah, Obama was black, and some people were excited to vote for him because he was black. That's not what I'm asking. Did his Facebook ads specifically take advantage of the fact that he was black? Did his ad campaign benefit from inflaming racial divisions? To be fair, advertising from the trump campaign may not have played on racial tensions either. The thing people are upset about is the russian interference. The russians bought ads and made posts that clearly stoked tensions, and Facebook was negligent in preventing this.
  - bryanlarsen 8y ago
    "campaign benefit from inflaming racial divisions" That was not the claim. The claim was that he "harvested" racial tensions. And of course he did.
khawkins 8y ago
It's certainly fair to say that Obama benefited from racial tensions, whether his campaign intended to or not. https://news.gallup.com/poll/107770/most-say-race-will-factor-their-presidential-vote.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/107770/most-say-race-will-facto... Blacks were 19% more likely to vote for Obama because he was black and 2% less likely. Whites were 5% more likely to vote for Obama because he was black and 6% less likely. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/local-elections/2076258/How-Barack-Obama-beat-Hillary-Clinton.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/local-elections/20... Obama ended up with near-unanimous support from the black vote in the primaries, beating Hillary.
- munificent 8y ago
  You seem to be confusing "benefitted from his race" with "benefitted from racial tensions".
i_am_nomad 8y ago
One article describing his race-card playing: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/us/politics/01campaign.html https://mobile.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/us/politics/01campaign... I would add to that his infamous “god and guns” speech, and his behavior in the primaries, including his shameful dance around the Jeremiah Wright issue.

How did Obama's strategy harvest racial tensions? I genuinely want to know. Can you link me to something?

by 32qwef 8y ago

How did Obama's strategy harvest racial tensions? I genuinely want to know. Can you link me to something?

I am curious about that statement too. Maybe the argument was something like "Black man is running for President." That fact alone was enough to cause racial tensions.

bryanlarsen 8y ago

Obama harvested votes from people convinced that his election would ease racial tensions.

32qwef 8y ago
You and some other commenters in the replies are making this claim. So yeah, Obama was black, and some people were excited to vote for him because he was black. That's not what I'm asking. Did his Facebook ads specifically take advantage of the fact that he was black? Did his ad campaign benefit from inflaming racial divisions? To be fair, advertising from the trump campaign may not have played on racial tensions either. The thing people are upset about is the russian interference. The russians bought ads and made posts that clearly stoked tensions, and Facebook was negligent in preventing this.
- bryanlarsen 8y ago
  "campaign benefit from inflaming racial divisions" That was not the claim. The claim was that he "harvested" racial tensions. And of course he did.

khawkins 8y ago

It's certainly fair to say that Obama benefited from racial tensions, whether his campaign intended to or not. https://news.gallup.com/poll/107770/most-say-race-will-factor-their-presidential-vote.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/107770/most-say-race-will-facto... Blacks were 19% more likely to vote for Obama because he was black and 2% less likely. Whites were 5% more likely to vote for Obama because he was black and 6% less likely. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/local-elections/2076258/How-Barack-Obama-beat-Hillary-Clinton.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/local-elections/20... Obama ended up with near-unanimous support from the black vote in the primaries, beating Hillary.

munificent 8y ago
You seem to be confusing "benefitted from his race" with "benefitted from racial tensions".

i_am_nomad 8y ago

One article describing his race-card playing: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/us/politics/01campaign.html https://mobile.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/us/politics/01campaign... I would add to that his infamous “god and guns” speech, and his behavior in the primaries, including his shameful dance around the Jeremiah Wright issue.