#14 is spot on.
Not only that, I see the underlying conclusion as fair game. You have a feel for the post racial agenda. I’m not sure Sunny has. But he is trying.

Indeed. However, I believe that post-identity politics will probably come sooner than later, and those who don’t adhere to it (or still do not get it) will risk becoming obsolete and put on the sidelines: because the majority of people – who by the way are moderates and do not necessarily adhere to strict Left/Right politics, are sick and tired of identity politics.

When you gonna write a post?

It is actually more difficult than it looks, so I will just focus on comments. Though it is fun to predict things, like this Brazilian author.

He quotes Phillips in a speach to the CBI as saying ” After forty years in which it was impolite to speak frankly about immigration policy, we must now be able to address this fundamental aspect of economic policy without embarressment or without fear of being labelled closet racists or open border fantasists. ” In what is to come, the best defence against prejudice against immigrants will be to make those who resent them competitive, to give them a place in society. ” Wemay need to do this with the sort of special measures we’ve previously targeted at ethnic minorities. But the name of the game today is to tackle inequality, not special pleading”.

What this is a recognition that the whole “positive discrimination” scam did nothing except pour money into dubious ethnic minority groups and fuel the hostility of whites.

That speech was in the economic sphere and what is being joined now is that battle against all blacklists and the idea that each ethnic group can only be represented by one of its own or, that there is a constituency called BME BAME or whatever, that has a common interest against white people.

We live in interesting times! I felt for years like a voice in the wilderness even within the anti fascist movement for voicing opinions that now seem to be mainstream.

I think it would be worthwhile posting up Nick’s article, I know he wouldn’t mind, and getting a discussion going on a very important subject.

If people in the North West want to get involved in the anti BNP campaign the contact details are on http://www.hopenothate.org.uk. Griffin will be standing in the Euro elections next year and it is going to tough to keep him out.

For instance, a prominent progressive blogger of Asian persuasion once said he was so pissed off that Cameron had agreed with Obama that black men should be more responsible – you see: Obama can say it because he is black, but Cameron is supposed to keep his mouth shut.

My guess is that this country is ready to elect a black or Asian prime-minister – but she needs to transcend identity politics, and be all inclusive. My guess is that this politician will most likely be a Tory, will rally around the concept of Britishness, and will govern right-centre.

The universe conspired to help Obama win, basically.

LOL! I think you’ll find it was a very human made win, no ‘god’ or universe involved.

Yes, but a caveat.

That does not per se mean that the candidate chosen by a small circle will be poor quality. I realise that you are not saying that primaries will necessarily increase the quality of candidates (or even produce the best candidate from the field).

Sunny (10) – ‘And lastly, it was Bush’s complete incompetence that helped people get energised enough to volunteer like crazy for Obama.’

Volunteer for Obama or volunteer for the other guy, whom ever that turns out to be. Maybe Clinton would not have ridden the tide Obama did, maybe not. But I’m not convinced that the universe aligned for ‘the other guy’ rather than Obama specifically.

Yes, but a caveat.

That does not per se mean that the candidate chosen by a small circle will be poor quality. I realise that you are not saying that primaries will necessarily increase the quality of candidates (or even produce the best candidate from the field) but mass involvement doesn’t always make for the best result.

Sunny (10) – ‘And lastly, it was Bush’s complete incompetence that helped people get energised enough to volunteer like crazy for Obama.’

Volunteer for Obama or volunteer for the other guy, whom ever that turned out to be. Maybe Clinton would have ridden the tide Obama did, maybe not. But I’m not convinced that the universe aligned for Obama specifically rather than ‘the other guy.’

Not sure why a slightly earlier version of this got posted above – please ignore!

But saying that, everyone expected Hillary to be the nominee because of her links within the party. So its not that institutions are completely absent in the US. Mike Huckabee didn’t make it partly because he didn’t have the backing that brought in money. That was the reason why McCain initially had major problems and nearly went bankrupt.

Obama became president because he out-maneuvered two of the world’s most powerful electoral machines – Clintons and Republicans. That takes a LOT of skill.
In that sense it was a once in a lifetime event because it would have been difficult to become President anyway. And lastly, it was Bush’s complete incompetence that helped people get energised enough to volunteer like crazy for Obama. There are a whole range of factors that make it difficult for a British Obama. These circumstances don’t come around often. The universe conspired to help Obama win, basically.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but you either become a ppc by being selected by your local party or being given a seat by the central command.

If its the local party, then as people have pointed out, its a pretty specific type of person who gets involved. Also, this isn’t the old days where people live in one community all their lives and know everyone else and all participate. How many people at a local level are actually involved in selection?

If you are selected by the party higher command then your allegiance will be to your party rather than your constituents.

If we have faith in the voting public then let them choose who they want to represent them.

The most interesting comment in the Times article you link to is actually Sadiq Khan. ‘[Philips] is right to say that the British electorate is a lot fairer and tolerant and can see through skin colour.’

There is a slightly wider point here (I think BillericayDickey gets at this) which is that the public can vote for whomever it wants to. Phillips can rail all he likes about ‘the system’ the fact remains that decisions are made by those who show up. That some have their noses put out of joint by those decisions is really just too bad. If the public wants to go out there and vote for a specific ‘stereotype’ then I don’t think that party processes are really the place to start. I agree with El Cid that gender discrimination is a more difficult issue here.

The demographics relative to the US do make Obama a bit of a bad comparison but what I don’t really get from Philips is what he feels we should all physically do. He doesn’t really say we should vote BME on the basis of colour, but all this skates a little close to a suggestion that the voters are wrong somehow.

The other thought is about primaries. Firstly these can be very costly and (on some models at least) favour those able to pay for a primary campaign. Secondly, if the problem is one of ‘mindset’ and some not being willing to step forward as a candidate I struggle to see how primaries, potentially very divisive, will help. Lastly, voters in primaries again can vote for who they like and if the aim is to increase BME participation it is not one that primary voters are compelled to buy into.