The Harlem Interviews

As a segment in his radio show Howard Stern sent a reporter to Harlem to interview black voters.  Stern’s speculation was that many black citizens are voting for Senator Obama only because he is black.  In order to prove this the interviewer in Harlem found black people who intended on voting for Barack Obama, but would then ask them about the policy that Obama supported they would replace Obama’s policy with John McCain’s and were able to receive responses that, for example, people supported Barack Obama choice of Sarah Pailin as his vice president.  The implication that the interviews gives is that these voters have no idea what any of Obama’s policies are, but are going to vote for him because he is black. 

            To state that these people are voting along “race lines” may or may not be a fallacy, but to say that they are completely ignorant is correct. If Howard stern were to do this gain he would most likely be able to get the same responses from several white people.  Consequently what the Harlem interviews indicate, more than Barack Obama’s favorability generated by his race is, the favorability that his campaign generated with out anyone noticing his policy. The ignorance displayed in these interviews is comparable to the ignorance displayed by voters who favor John McCain based on a belief that the name Barack Hussein Obama is evidence that Senator Obama is an Islamic extremist terrorist.