Aspen Institute

Will the 2012 election make America's racial divide even worse?

Last week several political strategists predicted to me that every racial button is going to get pushed hard in this fall's presidential campaign.

Their forecast is based on racial fears that are already being exposed. White Republican men form the strongest block of opposition to reelection of a black president — who, in turn, has near-unanimous support from blacks, and overwhelming backing from Hispanics and Asians.Their predictions come against the backdrop of two white male political writers, Pat Buchanan and John Derbyshire, losing their jobs at MSNBC and National Review, respectively, after writing racially charged pieces. Buchanan lamented in a book that immigration and high Hispanic birthrates were leading to the "end of white America." Derbyshire, writing in a small magazine, advised his children to avoid "concentrations of blacks," and to not settle in any place run by black politicians.The 2012 election comes at a time when the country is in the middle of a seismic shift in ...

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