Path to racial unity divides

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By Sean Lengell

'08 ISSUES:

Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, while agreeing that quotas and government assistance alone won't solve lingering racial inequities in the country, would take far different paths to combat race-based discrimination if elected president.

The two major presidential candidates largely have downplayed the issue of race relations while on the campaign trail - a scenario all the more peculiar because Mr. Obama is the first black man to secure a major-party nomination for the White House.

But unlike past decades, when race-related issues such voting rights and school desegregation dominated elections, race is a far more subtle debate today - ingrained instead in broader issues such as health care, subprime mortgages and the criminal justice system.

"The biggest racial issues are inequities in public services," said Lorenzo Morris, chairman of political science at Washington's Howard University. "Civil rights issues and race-specific issues come in, but I think they are a little bit down the line. [Public service inequities] are more salient now."

Improving access to quality health care is the biggest issue facing minorities, Mr. Morris said.

• Issues '08: The Washington Times takes a close look at an important issue every day before the elections.

A comparison of the candidates' health care platforms shows a stark difference.

Mr. Obama has proposed to expand health care access to Americans without medical insurance. His plan calls for expanding government provided health care programs such as the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, and Medicaid. Mr. McCain, rather, is pushing for more individually provided health insurance and generally is against more government participation and regulation.

An assessment by health care economists published last month in the journal Health Affairs estimated that Mr. McCain's plan would lead 20 million people to lose their employer-sponsored insurance. But it also found that 21 million people would gain coverage through the individual market.