http://www.wnbc.com/politics/17131027/detail.html Racist Groups Eye Boost If Obama Elected David Duke: ?€˜We Have Lost Control Of Our Country?€™ POSTED: 9:12 am EDT August 8, 2008 PEARL, Miss. -- They're not exactly rooting for him, but prominent white supremacists anticipate a boost to their cause if Barack Obama becomes the first black president. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, of Louisiana, said Democrat Obama would be a "visual aid" to the idea that whites have lost control of America. Duke, once a Democrat who became a Republican in 1988 and served in the Louisiana House of Representatives, posted an essay on his Web site in June titled, "Obama Wins Demo Nomination: A Black Flag for White America. "Obama "will be a clear signal for millions of our people," Duke wrote. "Obama is a visual aid for White Americans who just don't get it yet that we have lost control of our country, and unless we get it back we are heading for complete annihilation as a people." Richard Barrett, a 65-year-old lawyer who traveled the country for 40 years advocating what he perceives as the white side in racial issues, is convinced Obama will defeat Republican John McCain in November. One of the leaders in the Nationalist Movement, Barrett told The Associated Press in an interview at his rural Mississippi home that, "Instead of this so-called civil rights bill, for example, that says you have to give preferences to minorities, I think the American people are going -- once they see the 'Obamanation' -- they're going to demand a tweaking of that and say, 'You have to put the majority into office,'" Barrett said. While most Americans have little or no direct contact with white supremacists, organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center keep close tabs; the law center estimates some 200,000 people nationwide are active in such groups.
