You said it:

Folks, we’re talking about voting patterns in a contest in which two candidates have somewhat different philosophical underpinnings but very similar policy proposals. So while there’s certainly a little bit of daylight between them on policy, it’s a very teeny sliver. As a result, people are into the third? fourth? layer of decision-making, and for a lot of Democrats, apparently, this primary has been a beauty contest.

It is indeed a beauty contest, and perhaps the standards for judging a beauty contest should be used here. After all, while one may disagree with the judges on which contestant most “deserves” to win the prize, all the contestants are beautiful, so it comes down to a matter of taste and preference.

When one has no substantive policy differences between two candidates, and when each one would represent a historic first if they win the prize, how else is one to choose? Perhaps by picking someone who “looks like me”, or more verbosely “looks like someone who would make me proud, or who I would be proud to claim as a peer and friend”.

Evidently, a majority of white women (Democrats, at least) see Clinton this way, while an even bigger majority of blacks–men and women–see Obama that way. Why would one not expect voters’ taste and preference to favor the contestant most like themselves? As long as the contestants are seen as legitimate, that is. (Clearly prior beauty contestants Al Sharpton and Alan Keyes were not seen as “beautiful” by many of those who on the surface “looked like them”. Blacks have had many opportunities to vote for black candidates just because they were black, and while some do vote this way, most do not.

Obama is the first black contestant seen as “beautiful” enough to deserve to win, and not just by black voters, either. In fact, his strong support from non-black voters is part of what validates his “beauty” in the pageant and nourishes the hope of his winning. Why wouldn’t black voters do their part to make it happen?

If there is a historic first to be made here, why not by the contestant whose “beauty” most closely aligns with their taste and preferences? Who “looks like them”?

BTW, I’m forever an Oilers fan. I guess I should let it go, but it’s fun to hold on to the bitterness

Any possibility that this behavior is a manifestation of another form of bigotry? After all, black republicans would never be derided and demeaned by large portions of the black community for being Uncle Toms, Oreos or SOMFs, would they?

*snort*, indeed.

Well said, as always.