Great topic. My off-the-cuff thoughts are that I would think a woman will win the presidency before a black person will, but I think either has a chance to win an election before your 2025 date. I really haven't thought or heard a lot of discussion about this specifically and it's really interesting. I think there is a lot of deep-seated racism in a lot of people that causes them to feel a black person is not qualified to lead - I base this on general talk in many areas of society (I can't stress enough that I do not agree with this). An example: black quarterbacks - Culpepper, Vince Young. I hear so many people on call in shows that speak volumes with their comments without saying specifically that they don't think they are smart enough to take a team to the top level. They cannot master the offense, they cannot make the reads, they want to rely on their athleticism instead of checking down to the 2nd/3rd option, etc. You can just hear it as they get to the point of saying "He's not smart enough" and they kind of trail off into another point. I think that these are the people that would never vote for a black person, or at least not yet. Many of these people, mostly guys, probably go home knowing that their wife is a lot smarter than their stupid arses and know how much they do to run their household. They can give credit every day to a woman that works a job, many times in a management position, and comes home and cooks dinner, gets the kids homework done, does the laundry and manages the house.
This may be a weird way to look at it, but I think there is a large part of our society that works this way. People don't work at learning politics. They dismiss it and for those that vote they vote with their core beliefs. I sure could be wrong about the black/woman thing...maybe it's just the opposite or no different. But that's my gut feeling.
As for the jewish thing...I simply do not know. I don't think Lieberman's heritage was the deciding factor for many...I think it was his boringness and inability to galvanize people to his cause and campaign. I fall into that category.
Great topic for discussion.
