For the Media

“Cosby’s comments don’t exist in a cultural or political vacuum. His views have traction in conservative (and some liberal circles) because they bolster the belief that less money, political action and societal intervention—and more hard work and personal responsibility are the key to black success.”

- Michael Eric Dyson, "Is Bill Cosby Right?"

I didn’t think I’d ever find myself advocating for someone to adopt Bill Cosby’s oftentimes spiteful rhetoric emphasizing black personal responsibility over structural forces for the persistence of racial inequality. Yet, if I were David Axelrod my advice to Barack Obama would be to go Cosby immediately. The Obama Campaign seemed hip to this idea early in the summer but has not pursued the black responsibility angle to the extent I thought they would.

Here’s why it matters. When the media says Barack Obama has a hard time connecting with blue-collar white voters, what they really mean is that he (not surprisingly) has a hard time winning over racially resentful whites. By racially resentful, I am referring here to a concept emanating out of the symbolic racism research of David Sears and Donald Kinder positing that such symbolic racism or racial resentment is characterized by “a blend of anti-black affect and the kind of traditional American moral values embodied in the Protestant Ethic... a form of resistance to change in the racial status quo based on moral feelings that blacks violate such traditional American values as individualism and self-reliance, the work ethic, obedience and discipline”

The earliest results from the current campaign show that there is an extraordinary negative effect of this belief system on Obama evaluations. Based on the evidence, then, it certainly appears that racial resentment is the most important reason why Obama can’t connect with the white working class even when economic conditions strongly favor the Democratic candidate. As such, an Obama win may very well require deactivating racial resentment.

Here’s where Cosby comes in. All else being equal, racially resentful whites are actually significantly more favorable towards black Republicans Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, and Colin Powell than white racial liberals. My guess is that symbolic racists like black Republicans because they serve as an ostensible example that blacks could be just as well off as whites if they only tried harder while simultaneously supporting color-blind policies that do not give African-Americans any “special favors.” As is evidenced by their embrace of Bill Cosby’s statements, white America loves when black leaders point the finger at such personal attributes for racial inequality. For, not only does it give whites cover to say what they really believe without fear of being called a racist, but it puts the onus on the individual rather than society for remediation.

I’m sure the Obama Campaign does not want to push a Cosby-like position. As distasteful as this strategy may be, however, a strong and persistent message emphasizing the need for African-Americans to more forcefully embrace the American values of individualism, self-reliance, obedience and discipline—values which symbolic racists think the black community lacks—is probably Obama’s best play at reducing the impact of racial resentment on voter choice in November.

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Obama might have to go Cosby to win

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Jessica says:

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