In the January 25th issue of The Economist, in article on Republican ‘outreach’ to minorities, the author notes that “the Democrats will fight like hell to hold on to minority voters, who are the only people saving the party from oblivion.”
One hears this line a lot, phrased in a variety of ways. And it is unquestionably true, so far as it goes. But 
what precisely does this mean? I’d figure that taking away 20% or 30% of a party’s voters would pretty much always knock it on its heels. What’s the subtext of this remark?
I don’t think that I’ve ever heard anyone say that white men from the South and Mountain states are the only thing keeping the GOP from slipping to third party status. Have you heard that? I doubt it.
Even if it’s not meant this way, I think the obvious subtext is that the Democratic party can’t come close to winning elections in the white electorate and has to make up the margin with minority votes. I don’t want to press the point too far. But I can’t help feeling like the idea here is that minority votes are in some sense, well, how else to put it?, second-class votes. It’s as though a party’s political viability and health are best judged by how it fares in the white electorate.
