With Race in Play, Obama's White Support Softens

President Obama’s downward opinion-poll trajectory among whites seems to be linked to the “blackening” of his image, writes Joan Walsh in Salon. It accelerated during two racially charged moments this summer: Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, marked with debate over her “wise Latina” comment, and the Henry Louis Gates controversy. At such times, Walsh argues, “there's no denying, he got blacker to a segment of the white population.”

“I think most of the president's troubles with white voters have to do with political doubt his enemies have sown about his programs,” Walsh notes. Other Democrats have faced smear campaigns; Bill Clinton was portrayed as a rapist. But such claims never drew out “organized opposition” such as we’re seeing among anti-Obama extremists. “The Republican attack is resonating with a small but extremely vocal and paranoid segment of its base," Wals observes, "and I think racism has everything to do with that.” (More President Obama stories.)