Does race matter?

In the article “A Fault Line that Haunts the Democrats” by John Harwood, he traces the role that race has played in elections from the 1960s’ Civil Rights Movement to the present day, specifically in terms of its impact on the Democratic Party. President Johnson had predicted that the “landmark civil rights legislation he [Johnson] engineered would be met with a powerful backlash from aggrieved Southern whites.” (Hardwood, par 5) His prediction was ultimately accurate, which was made clear when “president Johnson lost five states in his native South – states that had historically voted for democrats.” (Hardwood, par 5) From this point on, Democrats lost multiple elections partly due to the loss of the white southern vote. William Martin’s book, “With God on Our Side,” provides a short description of Jerry Falwell and his ideological conversion from segregation to integration. Martin points out that “It is difficult to know just when Jerry Falwell changed his mind or public position on integration…”(Martin 58), suggesting that despite his public proclamations supporting integration, his ideological change was much more gradual. Southern whites, such as Falwell, lost confidence in the Democratic Party after the party’s move to support equal rights and it has taken southern whites decades to come to terms with the party’s base.

Bill Clinton has been a major factor in the recent expansion of the democratic base, because as Harwood states, “In 1992, Bill Clinton succeeded in broadening the party’s appeal to whites…” (Harwood, par 11) Nonetheless, the current election has brought the issue of race back and to the forefront, as evidenced by the fact that “one in five democratic primary voters in Pennsylvania said race was an important factor in their choice.” (Harwood, par 12) In this election, the Democratic Party is facing issues similar to those it faced during the 1960s because Obama has difficulties “connecting with working-class whites” and this “has become more consequential as the race moved to key electoral battlegrounds in populous states…” (Harwood, par 15) Nonetheless, as the article points out, Hillary Clinton has been able to create that connection with middle class southern whites and has continued to increase the prevalence of the Democratic Party within the white community. Now that she is no longer part of the democratic ticket for the White House, it is up to Obama to get these crucial votes. Will Obama be able to capture the southern white vote before the elections and how can he do it? Has America truly changed enough since the 1960s to see Obama in the same light as a white candidate?