An interesting fact about An interesting fact about Hillary Clinton's win in Ohio is that, according to MSNBC's Nora O'Donnell, for the first time in any of these primaries, a substantial majority of white men (59 percent) voted for her. Likely the Clinton campaign's deft play of the NAFTA issue -- especially news of the Obama campaign's contacts with the Canadian consulate -- had some bearing on that number.
But a troubling number arose in MSNBC Ohio exit polls: When asked if, "In deciding your vote, was the race of the candidate important?", 59 percent of Clinton's voters who said "yes" voted for Clinton. With Clinton having won 64 percent of the white vote overall, according to MSNBC, it's hard not to wince at that number. Seems as if announcements of the dawning of a post-racial society have been a bit premature.
If we can remain mindful, this election stands to offer great lessons for us as a people, and what constitutes "good difference" and "bad difference" in our collective mindset. For instance, voting for your own kind: good. Voting against your own kind: bad. Voting against your own kind because they're different from you: hmmm. Clinton won 67 percent of white women, and I imagine that a majority of them make up the 60 percent of Clinton voters who told MSNBC that the candidate's gender played an important part in deciding their vote. I don't really have a problem with that; do you?
UPDATE: The corrections in the second paragraph are the direct result of my public humiliation by Kate Sheppard, who pounced on my simplistic (mis-)reading of the numbers.
--Adele M. Stan
