In a memo to Team Obama, Evan Thomas explains Newsweek's ingenious new system for quantifying racial prejudice:
NEWSWEEK pollsters recently created a "Racial Resentment Index" to measure the impact of race on the 2008 election. White voters were asked a series of 10 questions about a variety of race-related topics, including racial preferences in hiring, interracial marriage-and what they have "in common" with African-Americans. About a third of these voters scored "high" on this index; 29 percent of all white Democrats did. Overwhelmingly, these Democrats are the ones most likely to defect to John McCain in the fall.
The actual questions in the index:
Disapprove of racial preferences (Q17=2) Less qualified people hired often (Q18=1) Whites lose out (Q19=2,4) Gone too far pushing rights (Q20a=1) Poor too dependent on government (Q20b=1) Blacks responsible for own condition (Q21=2) Disapprove of interracial marriage (Q22=2) Few things in common with blacks (Q23=3) Would mind if black person moved close (Q24=1) Would be upset if daughter dated black (Q25=2,3)
Wouldn't many non-racists disapprove of racial preferences, believe that those preferences will lead to less qualified people being hired, at times at the expense of whites? Aren't some non-racist also likely to believe that the poor are too dependent on government, and that this dependency is, in fact, no better for them than it is for the government? Some of these questions would clearly seem to indicate racism, but others amount to little more than branding conservative views as racist. Also, did Newsweek not gauge racial resentment among black voters? Isn't it possible that some blacks would score pretty highly on this, especially those that resent racial preferences and believe themselves responsible for their own condition--especially when that condition is one of success. The whole thing is ridiculous, and as Thomas notes just a few paragraphs later:
You [Obama] have won over "Obamicans" who admire you, at least in part, as proof that affirmative action is no longer necessary.
So if you support Obama but oppose racial preferences in hiring, what exactly does that mean for your score on the Racial Resentment Index? Further, Thomas actually counsels Obama to oppose racial preferences, "Taking a stand for affirmative action based on socioeconomic class rather than race would send a powerful signal." What would Thomas, or Obama, score on the Racial Resentment Index?