Speaking of President-elect Obama, PLP Chairman David Burt editorialised that “In politics, you’re either defining your opponent or you’re being defined by your opponent.”
And I suppose that’s why Dr. Brown went off the handle in Parliament last week, exhorting that white Bermudians would not have voted for Barack Obama.
Ignoring the low quality and irrelevance of this parliamentary debate, Dr. Brown is defining whites as racist to explain why the polls consistently show that Bermuda’s white voters don’t like him. From the PLP’s own analysis:
The white community skews the overall numbers against Dr. Brown as just 7% of the white community has a favourable impression of Dr. Brown.
Dr. Brown’s rhetoric towards white Bermudians weighs heavily on blame and exclusion, and the PLP’s track record of open and inclusive government does not match their campaign slogans. Simply put, white Bermudians are cautious about being defined as the PLP’s opponent. When a politician tells voters he doesn’t represent them, the voters tend to take it seriously.
To the contrary, Obama speaks of positive change and representation for Americans … all of them. In many respects, his election is a symbol of “burying the hatchet” between races and classes, but also a turnaround from the last 8 years of government opacity and intrusion. This breath of political fresh air encouraged many Republican moderates (and a number of prominent conservatives) to cross the political aisle to vote for him.
Without belabouring the point, Dr. Brown is no Barack Obama.