Quotes of the Day

Not So Black and White
Why is the economy trumping race [Oct. 20]? Maybe because race is completely irrelevant as to whether someone should be the next President! Sure there are some bigots who will vote solely based on race, but to imply that for many Americans the economy and race are issues of comparable weight is simply insulting.
Zachary Nass,
Merritt Island, Fla., U.S.

Isn't it obvious why the economy is trumping race? Even racists worry first about their jobs and mortgages. But more seriously, are TIME and the rest of the media creating an issue that doesn't really exist? Barack Obama has proved his ability to reach out to a broad spectrum of U.S. voters. He didn't win the Democratic nomination on the votes of people of color alone.
Lenny Bernstein,
Asheville, N.C., U.S.

I resent David Von Drehle's implication in "The Limits of Race" that whites who vote against Obama do so for racial reasons [Oct. 20]. Obviously race influences some voters, but what about blacks? Certainly some African Americans will vote for Obama because he is black. How many of these voters will cancel out white voters who vote for the wrong reasons?
James C. Perley,
Little Sioux, Iowa, U.S.

Americanness at Issue
In response to Peter Beinart's question "Is He American Enough?" [Oct. 20] my question is, What is an American? My idea of an American is one who upholds the laws of the land and leads a morally convicted life free of prejudices of any kind.
A.B. Madyun,
Oakland, Calif., U.S.

The characterization of conservatives' thinking as uneducated, racist and antiforeigner is insulting. Conservatives welcome immigrants of all cultures to America's shores just as liberals do; they part ways on who should foot the bill and how immigrants should be integrated into society. If Obama loses the election, rather than revealing our views on race or our lack of receptiveness to other cultures, it will show that Americans prefer governance from the middle — not from the far left.
Kathleen Sliwiak,
Gaithersburg, Md., U.S.

Beinart refers to a poll indicating that many white voters who lack college degrees would not vote for Obama because he is too "globalized," too "multicultural," too "cosmopolitan." I have news for Beinart. Many of the emigrants from the U.S.S.R. who came to the U.S. in the '70s and '80s support John McCain. A lot of us have undergraduate or graduate degrees. There is a simple reason for our choice: we already lived in a socialist country and left it. The U.S. surely would move in that direction should Obama win.
Mikhail Godkin,
San Diego, Calif., U.S.

I am a British national living in the U.S. Upon discovering where I am from, countless Americans reply with "Oh, I'm Irish/Scottish/quarter-English/half – French Canadian," etc. Given that a lot of Americans are proud of their non-American ancestry, why do some people use it as a negative point for Obama?
Tim Parkinson,
South Burlington, Vt., U.S.

Criticizing Obama by suggesting he isn't American enough is absurd. America is a nation of immigrants; they built it and thrived in it. I would say that because Barack Obama exemplifies this melting pot, he is more American than many of us. But this brand of attack is not new, as the article implies. I think of the 1920s and the red scare and the extreme nationalism that led to immigrant quotas and mob violence. Don't we all look back at that time and shudder at how we treated those who came from another place? Our incredible ingenuity, our innovation, our ideas, our universities — all these are the product of our ability to attract the brightest minds from all over the world. The Statue of Liberty? A gift from France. "God Bless America"? Written by an immigrant. Why do we continue to submit to an antiforeign ideology?
Emily Feder,
St. Louis, Mo., U.S.

The Color of Defeat
In "What If He Loses?" ta-nehisi coates reflects on the "loud sucking of the teeth" and "resignation" with which Barack Obama's defeat would be met by the black community [Oct. 20]. If Obama loses the election, the disappointment will be widespread and multiracial because voters will have chosen to continue down a path of political, fiscal and diplomatic disaster. Let's dispense with the black-white distinction. We're all Americans.
Peter F. Hartwick,
Candler, N.C., U.S.

Mind over Political Matter
Finally someone has recognized why we elect our Presidents based on primitive emotions and not reasoned discourse [Oct. 20]. After 50 years of voting for both Democratic and Republican Presidents, in 2004 I watched dumbfounded as Ohio, which had suffered the loss of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs, voted Bush back into office to pursue four more years of vanity, Constitution-shredding and a high-school-level understanding of geopolitics. It was then that I realized that presidential elections are more about biology than intellect. All Karl Rove had to do was present George W. Bush as the alpha dog and season with large doses of fear: pack mentality would certainly do the rest.
James Spooner,
Albuquerque, N.M., U.S.

The brains of thinking white voters register alarm when they hear fear-inciting words from Republican candidates. People, white and black, will vote for Obama because they use their brains.
Doris Schaffer,
Fallbrook, Calif., U.S.

Airing the Facts on Ayers
Who cares what Ayers did nearly 40 years ago [Oct. 20]? It's what he's doing now that matters. Let us not forget that at least two major Republican figures incarcerated following their conspiracies during the Watergate scandal — Jeb Magruder and Charles Colson — rehabilitated themselves as respected members of the clergy.
Stephen V. Gilmore,
Charlotte, N.C., U.S.