I have been catching up on my political news, since I don't yet have cable or internet at home due to my recent move, and have become really worried about Obama's prospects in November. Most polls show him leading McCain by the average between 3-5 points which, historically speaking (most pundits agree), means absolutely nothing. In most elections that have ended in a landslide in the past, the polls at this time of the campaign would show Obama leading McCain by at least 10 point margin. On the contrary, the polls seem to be tightening in the most important states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and of course, Florida (I think the latter is already lost!).
What is even more worrying than these polls is the fact that race attitudes cannot be explicitly captured by these polls as most people refuse to admit they are racist. However, pollsters report that many low-income and surprisingly college-educated (Bachelors Degree level) whites mistrust Obama for one reason or another. I am not hesitant in saying that most of these white voters are blinded by their prejudiced attitudes towards race that makes them see Obama as the Other who cannot be trusted. This is blatantly evident in their pronouncements of Obama as a Muslim (despite repeatedly being confronted with the evidence to the contrary), as a flaming liberal, etc. They refuse to accept such evidence because then they would have to confront the real reason why they are not supporting him: because they are racist. I am tired of many left-leaning pundits walking on eggshells in analyzing these people's attitudes. They need to be called what they are, and if that shames them, then maybe they do have to be shamed, publicly.
In a year when a whopping majority of voters want change, hate the Republicans, mistrust McCain and agree on almost every issue that Obama espouses, a failure of Obama to pull a landslide (or even a victory) would be a devastating blow to this country. It would cement racial attitudes and show that many whites have not boarded the post-Civil Rights bandwagon, and embitter the world against the US.
But that is something we are already used to, after 8 years of Bush.
I still think Obama will pull a narrow win, but I thought it would be healthy if we stepped back and realistically looked at the reason why he seems to be failing to landslide McCain into oblivion.
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I am beggining to think McCain will win in November as well, which will end my already withering belief in democracy and mass rule.
I think you are right that fear of difference is beneficial to the Republicans. But in reality, I doubt the aforementioned group of people would be likely to vote Democratic no matter who was the candidate. People who pick out Obama's name as a reason not vote for him are practicing the same political psychology of those who were "swayed" by the Swift Boat attacks on John Kerry - I use quotation marks because I do not believe in either case that this is there real motivation for refusing to vote Democratic, rather its a rationalization, a mechanism to allow them to vote how they would have probably voted anyway. As pathological as racism in America is, I think the fact that an entire generation has swallowed the right-wing culture war narrative is just as dangerous, and even in its death throws its haunting this election. You mentioned that some people don't trust Obama because they think he's "too liberal" - that has been the Republican line about almost every single national Democratic candidate since 1972, and would hav been said about Hillary had she won the nomination. That's not evidence of racism in itself, its evidence of political stupidity and internalization of the ideology.
Also I don't think "shaming" these people will do any good other than getting our beef off our chest. In fact it could back fire if the Left comes off as self-righteous and moralistic, recklessly making conjectures about people whom they disagree with politically. Really, do you think Obama haters are more likely to look themselves in the mirror and say "Golly gee, I really am a racist?" or are they more likely to dismiss the accusation as liberal oversensativity or 'playing the race card'?
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