“This is the result of how affirmative action, which was basically a justifiable concept when it applied to African-Americans, expanded to every single ethnic group in America that was not white.” – Senator Jim Webb
By TEDDY DAVIS and TALAL AL-KHATIB
Democratic veep prospect offered a theory as to why Barack Obama is struggling to win the votes of the Scots-Irish Americans who populate states such as Kentucky, West Virginia, and parts of Pennsylvania.
“We shouldn’t be surprised at the way they are voting right now,” said Webb in an interview with MSNBC. “This is the result of how affirmative action, which was basically a justifiable concept when it applied to African-Americans, expanded to every single ethnic group in America that was not white. And these were the people who had not received benefits and were not getting anything out of it.”
Webb, whose book Born Fighting looks at how the Scots-Irish have shaped America, said that he bristles at the suggestion that racism is behind Obama’s paltry performance among this group.
“When I hear people say this is racism, it gets my back up a little bit because that’s my cultural group,” said Webb. “This isn’t Selma, 1965.”
While laying out the hurdles posed by the legacy of race-based affirmative action, Webb expressed confidence that Obama can overcome them.
“The fact that they would line up and vote this way is not so much a comment on Barack,” said Webb. “I think Barack Obama is saying a lot of good things that will appeal to this cultural group in time.”
Jessica Smith, a Webb spokesperson, told ABC News that Webb’s reference to “in time” refers to this election cycle.
Asked if an Obama-Webb ticket might be the way to bring those two groups to the same table, Webb’s spokesperson played it coy.
“I’m not going to answer that question,” said Smith.
Stay tuned…
1 Comment
May 23, 2008 at 5:50 AM
“When I hear people say this is racism, it gets my back up a little bit because that’s my cultural group,” said Webb. “This isn’t Selma, 1965.” (Jim Webb)
I got news for you, Mr. Senator- it IS racism. True, it’s not “Selma style”, but it’s racism. Ya’ll need to deal with it as such. Get your back up all you want. But, end of the day, you have a problem.
Comments are closed.