THE RACIAL DIVIDE – AT 10:04 A.M. ET:  The NAACP did not help racial matters this week when it branded the tea partiers as "racist," an absurd charge.  But the sad fact is that there's now a pronounced racial divide  in the way Americans perceive President Obama.  From Scott Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16 (see trends).

The president earns an Approval Index rating of -28 among men and -6 among women.

Eighty-five percent (85%) of African-American voters Strongly Approve of Obama’s performance while 52% of White voters Strongly Disapprove.

COMMENT:  This is what every person of good will wanted to avoid when Obama was elected in 2008.  He was supposed to be our first "post-racial" president, but decisions by, especially, Attorney General Eric Holder, have increased rather than decreased racial suspicions. 

Obviously, there will always be some white racists.  But, in doing things like refusing to prosecute the New Black Panther voting intimidation case, and going after the state of Arizona, the administration bears some real responsibility for the increasing racial divide.

July 18, 2010