General Election Preview? Bloomberg News Sees Racial Animus Against Obama

Hitting what is likely to be a media refrain in the general election, Bloomberg News Service reporter Heidi Przybyla dredged up the outdated "Archie Bunker" character to imply that white people who refuse to support Barack Obama do so out of racial animus.

"Barack Obama is having trouble with Archie Bunker. [...] The state's white voters aren't 'bigots, but the image they see every day of black America is drugs, crime, guns and violence," she begins, quoting a Cleveland-area Obama supporter.

They're not racists of course. Although reading Przybyla's story you'd be hard-pressed to think otherwise:

Chicago's 41st Ward is a classic white working-class neighborhood of bungalows, modest two-flats and Dutch colonials that shuts down on Pulaski Day, the March holiday celebrating Casimir Pulaski, a Pole who fought in the Revolutionary War.

An informal survey of employees at a local bank, gym, library, and neighborhood restaurant turned up no Obama supporters. Some residents said they were concerned that he might not take into account the concerns of whites.

"If Obama gets in, it's going to be a black thing and it's going to be all blacks for blacks,'' said Victoria Mikulski, a 63-year-old clerk in Edison Park. "Everything's got to be equal.''

Some residents still harbor resentment from 35 years ago, when a growing black population on the city's west side pushed whites north into Edison Park and Norwood Park, said Mary O'Connor, who owns a local bakery. Brian Doherty, the 41st Ward alderman, said he was "shocked'' by Obama's success in the 2004 Senate primary.

Hat tip: Candance.

Update 10:25. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the general white population is far less interested in categorizing itself according to heritage than the media are? It could be this is an urban white phenomenon, I'll grant. I haven't seen it in white suburban areas though in the many different states in which I've lived.