We have so many iconic images of the Obama era. Quite a few are ugly. The photo of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, Tea Party darling, disrespectfully waving her pointed finger in the president's face is one of the worst.Maybe that's why I loved this very different image of an older white woman, who is taking the president's head in her two hands, like she might a grandson. AP merely termed her an "unidentified Obama supporter" in its caption, so I don't even know who she is. I wish we did.Theoretically, this woman could be his grandmother, who was white herself. Oddly, it's a funny X-ray of my other favorite Obama image: A young black boy touching the president's hair to see whether it felt like his own. They represent two very different impulses to reach out and touch this very singular American president.It pains me that the presidential race is coming down to race. I want to believe that women like this lovely unidentified Ohio voter are in the majority among white people, but I know they're not. The president trails Mitt Romney 54-37 percent among whites in the latest Pew poll (although that's down from 58-34 two weeks ago.) He's behind with white women who are older than 50 by 51-43; the gap is bigger with the same cohort of men, 55-37. The only group of whites Obama is winning nationally is 18-29 year olds, where he leads Romney 46-44, less than he did in 2008.Continue Reading... … Read More
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