Monday, January 11, 2010

Race, Obama And Health Care

Researchers at Stanford and UC Irvine have demonstrated to be true what President Jimmy Carter asserted to be true: many of those opposing Obama and his health care proposals see him differently because of his race. Here are Ezra Klein's thoughts on the matter.

The study shows that when measuring implicit levels of racism, as opposed to previous (and unorthodox) measures of explicit racism, those opposing Obama and his health care panels exhibit much higher levels of implicit racism.

Analysis
While this does not prove Carter's claims (remember, correlation is not causation) it does lend credence to the not-so-farfetched notion that elements of the vitriol aimed against Obama do have race as a motivating factor. And, to think, some had the nerve to suggest Obama's election would usher in a new post-race society. Wrong. Tsk, tsk.

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