okie wrote:a point that I would like to make to nimh and others here, that constantly analyzing the demographics of voters is informative, yes, but is it really very productive? I quote Obama, apparently agreeing with me. So there you have it, nimh, as I said, you do good work, but again, count me as one that is rather tired of it all. I think the comments about this were actually on another thread, the one about polls, etc., but bottom line, I feel vindicated by none other than Mr. Obama himself. I was ridiculed by some there on that thread, by Obama supporters by the way. So I agree with Obama, I am rather tired of the racial analysis that goes on infinitem.
I agree with Obama that speaking in
political terms, such analyses are not very "productive".
At least - let me insert a caveat - not in terms of putting them out as part of the public debate. The more the public debate is about racial demographics, the more Obama is hampered in putting his message out. So I definitely can understand his frustration. But dont think for a moment that the Obama campaign isnt itself crunching these numbers very hard every day as well, internally! Because they do matter, and they do determine election outcomes.
In short, if Obama were to say, "we ourselves do not care about such analyses and dont engage in them," I wouldnt believe him for a moment. But yes, he's totally right to point out that the more oxygen they take up in the media narrative, the harder it becomes for him, and the Democratic Party as a whole, to center the debate on issues. In that sense, these discussions do not "serve the Democratic Party well," as Obama put it.
But here's the point. I am not here to "serve the Democratic Party". I'm not even an American. I am here to discuss elements of the elections and election outcomes that interest me. Period.
Demographics and political geography have always interested me. In any elections. They are a significant enough chunk of my motivation to follow these elections so in-depth in the first place. That major interest stays, independent from any momentary strategical political considerations of what discussion benefits which political candidate or party. My interest in the issue doesnt wane just because it's not politically expedient for my preferred candidate.
So I will do my thing. I am not a campaigner in this race, and I have in fact banged on several times about how I think it's actually detrimental to the discussions here for posters to start coming here with their campaigner hat on. They should post their own critical observations on the things that interest them, and leave the badgering, self-censoring and talking up of their respective camps to when they're out campaigning.
Meanwhile, though the whole polls, graphs, stats, maps and demographics thing is just fascinating to me, I sure know it's not everyone's thing! So if you're tired of that aspect, I can certainly understand. Luckily, that kind of analysis has its own thread, the Polls etc thread, so if you're not personally interested it is very easy to avoid the worst of it. Mind you, I'd miss your input - you're pretty much the only Republican occasionally posting there - but yeah, totally, we should all try to just avoid what will only annoy us anyway.
