re: Obama (OT)

This is true of the general election - but I think LGL40 has a point about the primary. I am quite doubtful that Obama would have won the primary against Hillary Clinton if he had been white.

What is more, I think the prospect of electing the first black president energized the Democratic base, resulting in higher turnout. Whether this was necessary for Obama to win the election I don't know, but the effect was substantial - though probably not as substantial as "Not Bush!"

On all the other points, I agree with you. Obama is not a socialist but a corporatist and a statist - which is actually much worse. I have some socialist friends, but I try not to associate with statists.

Obama's team basically outsmarted Hillary's team. They had a good strategy of picking up delegate rich caucus states where Hillary, thinking she had it in the bag, didn't even bother to implement much of a ground game. Hillary was also hurt by some of the delegates from big state primaries she won being thrown out because they held their primaries too early per DNC rules. Obama being black might have helped him in states like South Carolina, but it probably hurt him in states where there was a large white working class contingent voting in the primaries. Overall, I wouldn't say that he benefited unduly from his race. I'd say the primary reason he won was because he had a winning strategy as well as lucking out that those big states held their primaries too early and Hillary lost a lot of delegates.

Other than that, I totally agree with you. Good post.