Corporate Media Plants The Meme of Pending Race War If Obama Loses

If you had tuned in to "The Michael Baisden Show" early last year, you would probably have heard the host talking mostly about urgent issues such as "how to please your man in the bedroom" or "pimps in the pulpit." That's now changed. The new star of Baisden's four-hour syndicated radio program is Barack Obama. "It was a no-brainer," says Baisden, 45, whose freewheeling show reaches millions, primarily African-American listeners in urban markets. "The conversation had to change to 'How do we change our futures now that we have someone who might actually care about us in the race?' What amazed me was that the number of listeners for my show kept increasing even as the conversation became more serious."

In the African-American community, the thinking on Obama's candidacy has gone something like this: In the beginning, there was disbelief that a black man could become president. Then, when Obama became the Democratic nominee and soared in the polls, listeners were concerned for his safety. Now that the race with John McCain is as tight as Sarah Palin's smile, Baisden's audience has started to worry about Election Day itself. There is still a fair amount of optimism in the black community, but it's being tempered by two words: what if. What if Obama loses? How should people respond? What should they feel? It's a common election-season concern, but it's all the more acute in the African-American community, where more people are paying attention to the campaign—and planning to vote—than ever. Managing expectations and reactions has become Topic A in many black homes and on blogs such as Bossip, Stereohyped and Angry Black Male. "People that I know that have never cared about politics are registering to vote this time: gang members, ex-cons, you name it," says rapper Snoop Dogg. "I hate to see a lot of that hope go down the drain, and if he loses, it will."