Kurt Andersen

I want to thank all the readers who’ve written in with what they thought were errors in Heyday. So far, none of them have successfully busted me. But I’m still accepting submissions.

I’m voting for Barack Obama in the New York primary on Tuesday. There are all kinds of excellent reasons to do so, which I don’t need to rehash here.

But for wafflers and fence-sitters and even more or less committed Clinton voters who happen to be white, here’s another reason: every white vote that Obama gets will be counted by the media (and historians) as a bit of proof that America is measurably and truly moving beyond its most tragic history, and every white vote that Hillary Clinton gets will be counted as a race-based anti-black vote. Unfair and unfortunate, but that’s the way it is. In this instance, perception will be reality.

So: Clinton voters need to understand that if their candidate wins, they will be part of a depressing morning-after metric rather than a hopeful one.