Last Updated on November 15, 2007 by Paulette Brown-Hinds
Dear George E Curry
NNPA Columnist
Usually, I don’t write columns about stories that appear in a single publication, but one that appeared on the front page of the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 10 really got my attention. The story about Barak Obama was headlined, “Whites” Great Hope? Barack Obama and the Dream of a Color-Blind America.”
In the interest of full disclosure, let me state that I’ve said all along that I believe that among the Democratic candidates, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has the best chance of winning the general election. I base that on the fact that no non-Southerner has been elected president on the Democratic ticket since John F. Kennedy in 1960.
That notwithstanding, it’s fascinating how the voters respond to Obama’s candidacy, especially Black public figures.
African-American voters are supporting Clinton, largely on the strength of her husband’s eight years in the White House, over Obama by a margin of 46 percent to 37 percent, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
Obama and Clinton have remarkably similar records. Each received an A on the latest NAACP Report Card — Obama had a 100 percent score and Clinton 94. Each is a United States senator. And although some try to depict Obama, a former Illinois state legislator, as inexperienced, he has served more time in public office than Clinton.
Obama and Clinton are graduates of Ivy League law schools; Clinton is a product of Yale and Obama graduated from Harvard and was the first African-American editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review.
There is little difference between them on major issues. And there is no question that Obama, the son a White mother and Kenyan father, celebrates his Black ancestry. He told one TV interviewer, “I’m rooted in the African-American community, but I’m not limited to it.”
Unlike civil rights stalwarts Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, many Whites say they can support Obama’s candidacy.
“After decades of often bitter polarization and racial tension on issues ranging from the spread of civil rights to affirmative action, many whites say they are drawn to Sen. Obama precisely because they think his mixed-race background reflects America’s increasingly diverse population and projects a more optimistic vision of the country’s racial future,” Jonathan Kaufman wrote in the Wall Street Journal story.
Referring to Obama’s candidacy, Kaufman wrote, “It is prompting significant numbers of white Americans to consider voting for him not despite his racial background, but because of it.”
Of course considering voting for Obama is not the same as voting for him. Just as Blacks are favoring Clinton over Obama, White voters support Clinton in that same Wall Street Journal/NBC News by a 46 percent to 32 percent margin.
I am more concerned about the lack of support for Obama among African-Americans, many of whom refused to endorse Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. Some said the two civil rights leaders lacked experience and others said they were divisive public figures.
Well, what’s the excuse now?
Billionaire Bob Johnson, Magic Johnson, Rep. John Lewis, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Rep. Kendrick Meek, among others, are all in the Clinton camp. Johnson, the Black Entertainment Television founder, says it’s because she is the best candidate.
Based on what?
Whether it’s experience or voting records, Obama is at least equal to Clinton. And with everything else being equal, it’s incredulous that Black elected officials who openly and sometimes subtly ask to be elected, in part, to assure Black political power, are now lined up in the Clinton camp.
They can’t ask for a more qualified candidate to carry the party’s banner. Not only is Obama fully qualified, he stands the best chance among Blacks of attracting White voters.
Mary Pattillo, a professor at Northwestern University, told the Wall Street Journal: “You can’t get angry as a Black person working in white America. To get a message across, Black professionals are always thinking about the perfect balance of assertiveness and non-threateningness.”
Doug Wilder learned that lesson in Virginia before he became the first African-American elected governor. Deval Patrick also struck that “perfect balance” to become governor of Massachusetts. Obviously, Obama has mastered it as well.
Blacks who support Clinton over Obama can’t have it both ways. They can’t keep getting elected in part based on racial appeals yet refuse to endorse Obama, whose appeal extends far beyond race. The next time one of them makes a purely racial appeal and most of them will — they should be soundly rejected.
Ironically, Gov. Patrick and Oprah Winfrey — two figures sometimes criticized as minimizing the issue of race — have boldly endorsed Obama. It’s too bad that Black elected officials endorsing Clinton don’t display similar courage or unselfishness.
George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com.