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Not So Black and White

Why is the economy trumping race [Oct. 20]? Maybe because race is completely irrelevant as to whether someone should be the next President! Sure there are some bigots who will vote solely based on race, but to imply that for many Americans the economy and race are issues of comparable weight is simply insulting. Zachary Nass, MERRITT ISLAND, FLA.

Isn't it obvious why the economy is trumping race? Even racists worry first about their jobs and mortgages. But more seriously, are TIME and the rest of the media creating an issue that doesn't really exist? Barack Obama has proved his ability to reach out to a broad spectrum of U.S. voters. He didn't win the Democratic nomination on the votes of people of color alone. Lenny Bernstein, ASHEVILLE, N.C.

How Voters Decide

I resent David Von Drehle's implication in "The Limits of Race" that whites who vote against Obama do so for racial reasons [Oct. 20]. Obviously race influences some voters, but what about blacks? Certainly some African Americans will vote for Obama because he is black. How many of these voters will cancel out white voters who vote for the wrong reasons? James C. Perley, LITTLE SIOUX, IOWA

Americanness at Issue

In response to Peter Beinart's question "Is He American Enough?" [Oct. 20] my question is, What is an American? My idea of an American is one who upholds the laws of the land and leads a morally convicted life free of prejudices of any kind. A.B. Madyun, OAKLAND, CALIF.

The characterization of conservatives' thinking as uneducated, racist and antiforeigner is insulting. Conservatives welcome immigrants of all cultures to America's shores just as liberals do; they part ways on who should foot the bill and how immigrants should be integrated into society. If Obama loses the election, rather than revealing our views on race or our lack of receptiveness to other cultures, it will show that Americans prefer governance from the middle--not from the far left. Kathleen Sliwiak, GAITHERSBURG, MD.

I am a British national living in the U.S. Upon discovering where I am from, countless Americans reply with "Oh, I'm Irish/Scottish/quarter-English/half--French Canadian," etc. Given that a lot of Americans are proud of their non-American ancestry, why do some people use it as a negative point for Obama? Tim Parkinson, SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT.

Beinart refers to a poll indicating that many white voters who lack college degrees would not vote for Obama because he is too "globalized," too "multicultural," too "cosmopolitan." I have news for Beinart. Many of the emigrants from the U.S.S.R. who came to the U.S. in the '70s and '80s support John McCain. A lot of us have undergraduate or graduate degrees. There is a simple reason for our choice: we already lived in a socialist country and left it. The U.S. surely would move in that direction should Obama win. Mikhail Godkin, SAN DIEGO, CALIF.