Stupid White Men

I follow the German press coverage of the US presidential campaign and occasionally translate pieces for Watching America. For the most part, the reporting is disappointing: the journalists from the German press often parrot the reporting from the mainstream American press.  In some cases, they simply plagiarize. An example of going along with the mainstream reporting is a piece by Martin Klingst in Die Zeit: DIe Pistole liegt neben der Bibel (The gun is next to the Bible) about the white, working-class men who, we are told, will determine the outcome of the presidential election in November.

We have seen this demographic hype before.  In 2000 it was the "soccer moms" who would decide everything. By 2004 they had become terrified "security moms".  Now, we are told, white men without a college education will pick the next president.

Der männliche weiße Arbeiter, der white blue-collar worker, ist
die Schlüsselfigur im amerikanischen Wahlkampf, der große Umworbene,
dessen Stimme über den Präsidentschaftskandidaten der Demokraten
entscheiden soll und im Herbst über den nächsten US-Präsidenten. (The white male worker – the white blue-collar worker – is the pivotal figure in the next election. He is much-courted, and his vote will decide who will be the next president in the fall.)

So Martin Klingst sets off in pursuit of the "white Joes", who love guns and Jesus but are struggling to support their families in a globalized economy.  These used to be called the "Reagan Democrats" – conservative, white union members who found Ronald Reagan’s racial divisiveness appealing.  These are the same folks that Thomas Franks wrote about in his brilliant analysis of politics in Kansas – What’s The Matter with Kansas? (2004).  These are the low income residents in the Red States who consistently vote against their economic self-interest due to polarizing social conservative issues cleverly packaged by the Republican Party.

Klingst finds two "white Joes" that fit the paradigm: Ed McMillan in Ohio and Jeff Kruger in South Carolina:

Jeff Kruger aus South Carolina repariert rund um die Uhr Landmaschinen,
seine Frau Samantha hat drei Jobs, damit ihre fünf Kinder eine
vernünftige Ausbildung erhalten. Wenn es die Zeit erlaubt, besuchen die
strenggläubigen Krugers ihre protestantische Kirche dreimal die Woche.
Jeffs Hobby ist die Jagd, er besitzt einen ganzen Schrank voller
Gewehre und Pistolen. Früher, als alles besser war, legte er oft
samstags seine Flinte auf die Ladefläche seines betagten Pick-ups und
fuhr in die nahe gelegenen Berge von North Carolina. Ed McMillan
besucht in seiner spärlichen Freizeit lieber einen irischen Pub. Auch
er besitzt eine Pistole, »zur Selbstverteidigung«. Denn in letzter Zeit
wird in der Nachbarschaft viel eingebrochen. Die Pistole liegt auf
seinem Nachttisch, gleich neben der Familienbibel. (Jeff Kruger from South Carolina repairs farm equipment day and night, his wife Samantha has three jobs so that their children can get a decent education. When they have the time the devout Krugers attend their Protestant church three times during the week.  Jeff’s hobby is hunting and he has a entire cabinet filled with handguns and rifles. In the past, when times were better, he used to toss his shotgun in his old pickup and drive into the surrounding mountains in North Carolina.  Ed McMillan prefers to spend what leisure time he has in an Irish pub. He also owns a handgun – for "self-defense". Because there have been a lot of break-ins in his neighborhood. The gun is on his night table, next to the family Bible.)

From the attitudes of these two men, Klingst extrapolates that Senator Obama doesn’t have a chance with this demographic.  Obama is too exotic, and they don’t trust a black candidate:

Die Joes, die Ed McMillan und Jeff Kruger heißen, drücken ihr Unbehagen
so aus: Der schwarze Senator aus Illinois sei ihnen doch irgendwie
sehr, sehr fremd. (The Joes, who have the names Ed McMillan and Jeff Kruger, express their discomfort: they think the black senator from Illinois is really very, very strange.)

This type of "analysis" is really quite silly.  Senator Obama won the primary in Jeff’s state quite handily, attracting many white voters.  In Virginia, often cited as a Red State, Obama won the majority of white voters in the Democratic primary. In my state – Maine, one of the poorest, whitest (99% Caucasian) states in the US – Obama won the caucus by a wide margin.  I don’t doubt that there a number of racists who will not vote for a black candidate under any circumstance, but the Reagan Democrats no longer exist as a major voting block.  The US has become too diverse, the economic shocks from globalization have been too great, and life has become too precarious for many Americans. They are ready to vote for real change. The idea that there is huge demographic of uneducated, low-income white males who will vote against change as block in November doesn’t correspond to today’s realities.