The Obama win by the numbers

This Letter to the Editor published in The Mercury offers an interesting perspective on the type of people who voted for Barack Obama.

A few observations about the 2008 presidential election

What I was able to glean from the 2008 presidential election:

* 54 percent of individuals claiming to be "Catholic" supported the candidate who singularly opposed the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.

* 78 percent of Jewish voters cast their ballots for the candidate whose equivocal support of Israel now makes that country a more likely target for annihilation.

* 56 percent of women voted for the candidate whose primary and general election campaigns skillfully employed sexism to marginalize and demean the women on the opposing tickets.

* 95 percent of African Americans supported the candidate whose opposition to publicly funded school choice has translated into lives of desperation and failure for minority kids. This same constituency also supported the candidate whose advocacy for more and greater entitlements, i.e subprime mortgages for high risk clients, precipitated the mortgage crisis and ensuing collapse of our economy.

* 43 percent of white Americans cast their ballots for the candidate who, for 20 years, funded and lent his public stature to a level of racist hate speech that would make a Grand Dragon blush.

* 65 percent of newspapers nationwide (71 percent of circulation) supported the candidate whose advocacy for shield laws will institutionalize and protect shoddy, unsourced, politically motivated journalism. Conversely, opposing political points of view in FCC regulated media have already been likened to pornography and will be quashed via a resurrection of the "Fairness" Doctrine.

* 67 percent of union members cast ballots for the candidate whose support for a "card check" provision in union organizing will lead to the intimidation of employees in the privacy of their own homes.

It is particularly laudable that a minority has been elected to the highest office in the land. Per the president-elect's platform however, the cost in terms of lost individual and collective freedom will, for many, be unacceptably high. This may explain the doubling of gun sales during the week prior to the election and the 15 percent increase in gun owner background checks during the month of October relative to the same month last year.

MARK FURLONG
North Coventry