Opposition Senate Leader Michael Dunkley has accused the Premier of "divisive politics" in his claim that white Bermudians would not have voted for US President-elect Barack Obama.

Instead, Sen. Dunkley said Dr. Ewart Brown should "learn" from Mr. Obama's message of "hope and not hate".

Sen. Dunkley was responding to remarks made by the Premier in the House of Assembly on Friday. In the House, Dr. Brown said if white Bermudians had voted in the US presidential election in a similar way as to how they vote in Bermuda, they would have picked Republican candidate John McCain.

In the House of Assembly on Friday, Dr. Brown said all the MPs in the House seemed to be jumping on the "Obama bandwagon", but he was not sure they were past the "old racist policies". He said voting patterns showed white Bermudians picked the United Bermuda Party over the Progressive Labour Party.

"If you looked at the voting patterns in Bermuda, which all vote in lines, if whites in Bermuda were to vote in the US using the same lines, they would have voted for the other man (McCain)," said the Premier.

Yesterday, Sen. Dunkley weighed into the issue and said: "I was astounded that Premier Brown claimed in the House of Assembly on November 14 that white Bermudians would not have voted for US President-elect Barack Obama.

"The simple question is 'How would he know?'. He doesn't, but this is not how anyone voted in the recent US presidential election.

"This is all about the Premier continuing his divisive brand of politics. Premier Brown should be very careful in discussing how the US election was won, because it is in dire contrast to the way he conducts his politics.

"Instead he should learn from President-elect Obama and his message of hope and not hate, in his desire to bring people together and not pull them apart."

Sen. Dunkley added: "I have yet to see Mr. Obama attack another person verbally for his own gain. He managed to energise African Americans and younger people to vote for him, while not polarising any other group of people.

"Furthermore, after election victories you see him reaching out to the challengers he has defeated along the way, such as Hillary Clinton and just recently, John McCain.

"Mr. Obama is a symbol of what can happen if one works hard, gets an education and then builds consensus in public life.

"He has truly set a standard that the rest of the world has taken note of and should try to emulate. Yes Premier Brown and all of us can learn a lot from our US neighbours and their recent election.

"Armed with this knowledge, we will all be better off in facing the challenges of the coming months."

During Friday's debate, the Premier's remarks were criticised as "sad and pathetic" by Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons, who referred to them as "the worst kind of racial stereotyping".

Dr. Gibbons said: "Clearly we all understand that white voters in Bermuda have been voting for black candidates for a very long time."

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