White swings

In analyzing American voting history, political scientists have always tried to group certain blocks of people together to get a good idea of who is voting for whom and who is being neglected. For example, during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s era, African Americans, poor whites and southern whites were generally associated with the Democratic Party. This trend changed a bit during the civil rights era as whites, in particular white men, tended to vote Republican more often. Loosely speaking, this has been how political scientists have drawn the line over the years. Now, one of the beauties of the white male demographic when it comes to politics is that one usually can’t group all white men into one political pool because they are large in number. But white men are generally always accounted for. Their views are usually always heard. You never have to worry about the white men being neglected in the presidential elections. They are well represented. (See the last 43 presidents). But apparently this trend is changing.\nAccording to CNN.com, this year’s election is unique in that the white man is the overlooked swing vote on the Democratic side. No, that is not a typo, the white man. Apparently, with blacks voting strongly for Barack Obama, and women and Latinos voting strongly for Hillary Clinton, the white man has been left out in the cold. It seems the candidates have been focusing a great deal of energy on building the base of voters they know they can get strong support from and less energy on a group of people that generally votes Republican. But according to experts, the white male vote is important for both Obama and Clinton, and neither Texas nor Ohio can be won without the ever-so-important white male vote.\nSince the beginning of the Democratic Party, every one of the 14 individuals who represented the party in the White House were white males. In fact, I’m sure it will only come as a surprise to a few of you (and to those who find this surprising, bless your soul) that every U.S. president has been a white male. So excuse me for finding it ironic and comical to hear some suggest that in the first presidential election where it is guaranteed that the two Democratic candidates combined will be a better representation of the American people than any other election in history, that the white man is being forgotten.\nThis reminds me of the people that try to suggest that the white man is losing the country. And to that I say, who are you losing it to? I think it is safe to say that the white man will always be taken care of in America, no matter what his party affiliation is. Almost the entire political process is reflective of the white man. Don’t worry – you will get yours. Let the rest of us get ours.