October 27, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 27, 1429

WASHINGTON, Oct 26: This year’s presidential election in the United States seem to be both discouraging and encouraging racism in US politics.

The possibility that the next occupant of the White House could be a non-white has electrified America. There are those who see Democrat Barack Obama as a beacon of hope, someone who could end the politics of hate and bring a new era of ethnic harmony. There are others who fear such a change and want to keep America white.

They include millions of middle-and working-class white Americans, especially in small towns and rural areas, who do not relish the idea of a non-white American with a name like Barack Husain Obama occupying the White House.

Although Senator John McCain has distanced himself from this camp, the issue is raised at almost every election rally or meeting his Republican Party holds across America.

This message is then magnified and spread across America by conservative radio talk show hosts, mainly those from the Christian right. They keep reminding their listeners that Barack Husain Obama is a “closet Muslim” who wants to destroy America by occupying the White House.

So far this message of hate does not resonate with the mainstream America which seems to have made its mind to vote for Mr Obama on Nov 4.

At a recent Obama rally in Leesburg, Virginia, whites outnumbered non-whites by 10 to 3. It is a huge accomplishment in a state like Virginia which has not voted for a Democrat since 1964 and that too in Leesburg, an old colonial town surrounded by the working class whites.

“Can we change America,” asked Mr Obama from the podium. “Yes, we can. Yes, we can,” chanted the crowd of about 20,000 people, a huge number for an election rally in America.

“Are you ready to defeat the policies of divisiveness,” Mr Obama asked again. “Yes, we are. Yes, we are,” the crowd responded.

And it seems that such sentiments are echoed not just by the traditional Democrats. Opinion polls show that Mr Obama’s popularity transcends party loyalties, ethnic divides and religious and cultural concerns. Democrats and non-Democrats, independents, left-leaning Republicans, whites, Blacks, Hispanics and Asians are all voting for Mr Obama.

On Saturday, just 11 days before the election, a review of 11 national polls gave Mr Obama a comfortable lead over Mr McCain.

He led by a double-digit margin in five of the 11 polls reviewed on Saturday, with over 50 per cent support in seven of the 11.

But right at the entrance of the Leesburg rally stood about 100 McCain supporters, including a group of women who supported Hillary Clinton during the primaries but switched to the Republican camp when she did not win nomination.

“I will turn my attention to Lord and pray to Him to see me through this difficult period,” said one of them when asked what he would do if Mr Obama won the election on Nov 4. “Yes, I too will seek refuge in God,” said another.

And media commentators in American predict that this despair could further increase the racial divide if Mr McCain was defeated on Nov 4.

In its latest issue, the Newsweek magazine warned that in 2012, the conservative faction of the Republican Party could launch a “full-fledged culture war” to win back voters.