Abstract
This is a book about what happens to black politics in a prematurely post-racial world—one in which racial disparity persists but race as a national issue falls out of vogue. Thus, it is also a book about what happens to black people in such a world. Finally, it is a book about what happens to politics writ large in a post-racial world. The ideal of colorblindness notwithstanding, Americans’ voting and policy preferences continue to be defined by marked racial stratification. The state of black politics defines the state of American politics and vice versa.
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Notes
Terry Smith, Parties and Transformative Politics, 100 Colum. L. Rev. 845, 847 (2000).
Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope 34 (2006).
Robert S. Becker, Triangulation or Strangulation? Obama + Clinton = Bush III?, Open Salon (July 19, 2010), http://open.salon.com/blog/robert_s_becker/2010/07/19/triangulation_or_strangulation_obama_clinton_bush_iii.
Peter Wallsten, It’s Rahm Emanuel’s Mayoral Race in Chicago, But Obama’s Record Is the Ammunition, Wash. Post (Jan. 15, 2011, 12:00 AM), http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011406835.html; Chris Cillizza, Obama vs the Congressional Black Caucus?., Wash. Post (Aug. 2, 2010, 4:44 PM ET), http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/white-house/pre sident-obama-vs-the-congres.html.
Caroline May, African-American Leaders and Intellectuals Express Dissatisfaction with President Obama, Daily Caller (Aug. 24, 2010, 9:19 PM), http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/24/african-amer- ican-leaders-and-intellectuals-express-dissatisfaction-with-president -obama/.
Krissah Thompson, Obama Reaches Out to African Americans, Wash. Post (Dec. 22, 2009, 12:51 PM ET), http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/12/obama-reaches-out-to-african-a.html.
Hazel Trice Edney, Sharpton: Obama Gets Bad Rap on Black Jobs, Seattle Medium (Jan. 26, 2011), http://seattlemedium.com/News/search/ArchiveContent.asp?NewsID=107233&sID= (Citing Bureau of Labor Statistics records from 1993–2000 that show the unemployment rate for blacks was roughly double that of whites during the Clinton presidency).
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, What Does Bill Clinton Have That Obama Doesn’t?, HuffingtonPost.com(Oct. 19, 2010, 12:21 PM), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/what-does-bill -clinton-ha_b_768203.html.
Terry Smith, Autonomy versus Equality: Voting Rights Rediscovered, 57 Ala. L. Rev. 261, 295 (2005). (“[C]ourts often cannot distinguish race from politics, and when they do, voters of color are usually assigned to whichever category is most disadvantageous in a given case.”)
Tom Diemer, Bill Clinton Visit to White House: Is Obama Borrowing His ‘Triangulation’ Strategy?, Politics Daily (Dec. 10, 2010), http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/12/10/bill-clinton-visit-to-white -house-is-obama-borrowing-his-trian/
Frank Rich, 2006:The Year of the ‘Macaca,’ N.Y. Times (Nov. 12,2006), http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/opinion/12rich.htmPref=georgefallen; Margaret Ann Campbell, State Exit Polls: Senate Hangs in the Balance, FoxNews.com (Nov. 8, 2006), http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,227979,00.html (Quoting an exit poll that nearly 60 percent of whites supported Allen in the senatorial election).
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© 2012 Terry Smith
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Smith, T. (2012). Introduction. In: Barack Obama, Post-Racialism, and the New Politics of Triangulation. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230372016_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230372016_1
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