Barack Obama is NOT Jackie Robinson

President-elect Barack Obama (D - Illinois) emerged victorious in the 2008 General Election campaign. Principal and Policy wishes the President-elect well, but promises to oppose most, if not all, of his hair-brained governmental schemes.

The blogger is already distressed by the predictable reaction of the P-E Obama's pals in the liberal media. The NBC Nightly News on Nov. 5th 2008 for example reported that P-E Obama won in spite of his race not because of it. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Men like Jackie Robinson, Ernie Davis, and Lee Elder were held back because of their race and in spite of their obvious talents for the games they played. When they emerged into the top-levels of their fields, it was a story a perseverance against a unjust system of racial prejudice.

Unlike these men, P-E Obama was never held back because of his race. Rather, he was in many ways advantaged by it. This is especially true in terms of his election to the highest office in the U.S. government. Consider the evidence from the exit polls. The exit poll results posted at abcnews.com provides support for this thesis. Generating a pie chart for voter's self-reported political philosophy by black racial status shows that 20% of African-American voters described themselves as conservative. This group voted for P-E Obama 89% to 9% for McCain.

Now the margin of Obama's victory in the 8 key swing states was only 838,000 out of nearly 30 million votes cast. Multiply 30 million by the proportion of black voters in the population (13%) and by the 20% conservative produces a number that is very close to this margin. Consider also that self-described Hispanic conservative voters (29% of all Hispanics) went for McCain 56 to 42% while conservative white voters went for McCain 87-11.

Principal and Policy is led to wonder why so many self-described black conservatives voted against the more conservative candidate and in favor of (arguable) the most liberal candidate to ever run (let alone win) the U.S. Presidency?

Let no one wonder, the election of Barack Obama is a key moment in American history. It will be more so if in future elections African-Americans are set free to vote their conscience based on their political beliefs. But make no mistake, grouping Barack Obama with true pioneers like Jackie Robinson belittles both Mr. Robinson and black history in the United States.