Noam Scheiber once made a comment along the lines of "when voters say 'I'm not a racist, but," Barack Obama exists in the 'I'm not a racist' part." That struck me as rather wise. Obama may face racism, but he also seems like the sort of candidate who evades racism, who could allow folks with retrograde views in certain circumstances to vote for the sort of enlightened attitudes they want to believe they have. Which makes this pretty powerful rhetoric. "Don’t vote your fears," Obama said this weekend. "Vote your aspirations. Vote what you believe." That seems powerful. It's what "values" voting is all about: Voting as a way to underscore your moral core rather than merely emphasize your self-interest. It's a political motivator that Democrats rarely tap into, and that they ignore to their detriment. Meanwhile, so long as I'm talking Obama, Ben Smith finds him making an argument that neatly backs up Mark Schmitt's interpretation of how Obama's conciliatory, respectful rhetoric fits into his theory of change and social action. Read both.
