The Psychology of Whites and 'Obama Mania'

Just look at the pools: Barack Obama is an incredibly popular presidential candidate among the white voting population, if not the most popular candidate. In addition, he is by far the candidate of choice among Black and Hispanic voters. However, there is clearly more to the story than race and political policies.

I hope to shed some light as to why Obama is so popular among these demographics, and in particular, the former.

First, I would like you to consider the degree to which Obama and McCain's politics differ. Moreover, from which sources does each respective candidate derive the bulk of his campaign's financial support? As to the first question, the answer is not very; the two espouse very similar policies and have relatively similar voting records. As to the second question, the answer is from similar sources; both candidates receive the vast majority of their respective campaign's financial support from big business, including Wall Street (which incidentally makes you wonder why both are supporting the proposed $700 billion bailout for such types of corporations!).

Now ponder this: do you really think most Americans believe one of the two would make a good President? I have a hunch the answer to that would be NO.

Many are in fact voting for the ‘lesser of two evils,’ which nonetheless is still evil. On that note, let's consider the mainstream American media's portrayal of Whites; in particular, White males. I think many of us -both White and Minority- could agree that the American media frequently portrays White Americans and in particular White American males in a negative light.

Here is a classic example of what I mean; how often do television serials include as a main character a White, middle class, American male who is effectively absent as a parent and non-responsive as a husband? Similarly, White women are often portrayed as dumb and two-faced, while White children and teenagers are often portrayed as mean and spoilt. Sadly, many Minority Americans adopt the paradigm that 'all' White people really are that way, while many White Americans adopt these negative sorts of behavior, thus reinforcing such stereotypes.

On the other hand though, one rarely encounters negative portrayals of Minority individuals by the mainstream media. How often has Will Smith played the hero or Hallie Berry the Heroine? And isn't the 'bad guy' nearly always a White middle or upper class male? And don't the 'good guys' -most often Minorities or untraditional Whit characters- always overcome the 'evil' white male, righting wrongs and effecting justice?

Given the fact that the mainstream media's programming has for the past sixty years or so played such an important role in contemporary American society; coupled with the sorts of messages so often spewed out thereby, it is no surprise to me that so much of America has come to accept the stereotype of White people as 'bad,' if not exploitive of Minorities; while simultaneously accepting the stereotype of Minorities as 'good,' if yet disenfranchised by the former.

And in fact, I would argue the problem concerning negative portrayal of Whites in the mainstream American media is so pervasive within our society, that it generally goes unnoticed, and furthermore, that the inherent ‘guilt’ and ‘badness’ of Whites is typically taken for granted, among both Whites and certain Minority populations.

So many Minority Americans believe White Americans to be their adversary, while some no doubt perceive White America in general as an enemy threat. Likewise, many White Americans feel some sort of ‘soft-hatred’ towards themselves for being White, as well as for their race in general, its traditional values, its institutions and its heroes. However, it is worth mentioning that our country was founded and created by Englishmen and Englishwomen; White people. Moreover, it is traditionally based upon the values held by that group; European or White values, if you will. But this is all changing, isn’t it?

Indeed, American society is straying from the values and traditions which once made it great, and has continued to do so since the 1950’s, at ever increasing rates. Could the media be the major culprit in this, and could the latest Obama craze be just a reflection of a larger problem; namely, the abandonment of Conservative-Libertarian American values for Socialist-Communist ones?

In essence, I believe the answer to both those questions is yes. It is clear that the race card is playing a major –if not the most major- role in the current election, but that American values are changing rapidly.

Consider that the politics of and financial backers behind the two differ only to a minor degree, so such issues are not much at stake here. I would not refer to McCain as a Conservative, and it is laughable to include his name in a sentence with the word Libertarian, unless used to describe what he is NOT! However, Obama is no Messiah for the poor and broken, nor does he challenge the status quo in any way (else he would not have made it onto the Democratic ticket!).

Additionally, the media –which plays such a large role in American society- so often portrays Whites negatively, while portraying Minorities positively. This considerably effects how Whites and Minorities view Whites.

Finally, I would venture to guess that for several decades now, the mass media –in particular Hollywood- has been conditioning Americans to expect the coming of a Black president as natural, inevitable and perhaps desirable.

Another thing the mass media in general seems to be in favor of is a more communist government and socialist economic system. American students – from high school to college level- are so frequently taught from politically communist and economically socialist paradigms. How often does the media portray socialist or communist policies in a positive light; policies such as increased taxation, national healthcare, government consolidation of power and the classic ‘hate law’ legislation?

Not only has the media prepared us for a Minority president, but also, for a more socialist economic system and communist society!

If one considers Obama’s popularity rating in the context of his policies, voting record and his financial backers, it is difficult to understand why he has become so popular among both demographics. But when one considers his popularity in the context of negative racial stereotypes concerning Whites, positive racial stereotypes concerning Blacks, and the shift from a capitalism to socialist and libertarian to communist governance system, it becomes easy to see how Obama rose to such popularity!