Tom Fudge : This year, race is the issue that underlies the race for President. Barack Obama's candidacy is historic. And it has raised many confusing, emotional and complex issues. Some say that race shouldn't matter, and maybe they're right. But it does matter. It matters to black voters who have come out in tremendous force, supporting Obama in the primaries. It matters to white voters, some of whom are very excited by Obama's candidacy while others are made very uncomfortable by it. And yes... there are still those hard-core racists who would never vote for a black man under any circumstance.
If we do elect an African American president, it will put our country's race relations in a new light. Some commentators have suggested it could mark the end of black politics as we've known them.
Juan Williams will be speaking at the San Diego City College International Book Fair on Saturday, October 4, 2008, at 10:00 a.m.
Ruben Navarrette can be seen in the PBS documentary "Latinos '08" airing next Wednesday, October 8, 2008, at 9:30 p.m. on KPBS TV.
Guests
- Juan Williams , NPR news analyst and author of "Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary," and most recently "Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America - and What We Can Do about It."
- Ruben Navarrette , syndicated columnist and a member of the San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board.
