|
Democrat Barack
Obama navigates racial minefield in South Carolina
(South
Carolina, January
25,
2008 Ceegaag Online)
Democrat Barack Obama is walking a tricky racial line in
South Carolina, openly appealing to black voters while
striving not to be tagged as "the black candidate."
His success or failure will help decide his party's
presidential nomination, and could strongly influence the
fall general election if he prevails over New York Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Blacks comprise large portions of the Democratic
electorate in Deep South states, and they could help Obama
win a handful of primaries, including Saturday's in South
Carolina. But the more Obama is seen through a racial lens,
the more it might hamper him in other states, especially
those where voters are unaccustomed or unwilling to support
black candidates.
Obama's aides acknowledge the dilemma, saying it is
inevitable for the first viable black presidential
contender. They hope he can benefit from black voters'
enthusiasm while also highlighting the many votes he has
drawn in states such as Iowa, where he won the Jan. 3
Democratic caucus.
Former President Clinton addressed the racial dynamic
this week in Charleston, where he mixed praise and rebukes
of Obama. He suggested his wife will lose South Carolina
because many blacks understandably will vote for Obama, even
as many women will vote for Sen. Clinton.
Clinton campaign strategists deny any intentional effort
by Bill Clinton, his wife or even surrogates like Bob
Johnson _ who referred to Obama's admitted youthful drug use
_ to stir the racial debate. But they say they believe the
fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black
candidate," something he has worked to avoid.
A new McClatchy/MSNBC poll holds warning signs for Obama.
He leads overall in South Carolina, but his support among
white Democrats fell in one week from 20 percent to a mere
10 percent. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who is
running third, appeared to pick up the white support Obama
lost.
Obama addressed racial issues Thursday when a reporter
asked if he feared the Clintons were trying, to his
detriment, to depict him as the black candidate.
He replied that he has run his presidential campaign and
public career "based on the idea that we're all in it
together, and that black, white, Hispanic, Asian, all of us
share common dreams, common fears, and common concerns."
That approach, he said, won him votes "across the board"
in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, and will elsewhere.
"I'll let the Clintons speak to what their strategy is
going to be," Obama said coolly.
Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white
mother from Kansas, must juggle race-related matters that
sometimes seem to conflict. He must convince blacks that
America is ready to elect someone like him, so their votes
for him will not be wasted and their hopes dashed. At the
same time, he says voters can embrace him without regard to
color _ as if he had "polka dots."
An exchange Tuesday with a black woman at Winthrop
University in Rock Hill illustrated the two-step dance. The
woman said her father, 77, was reluctant to back Obama
because he feared "an African-American candidate won't be
able to do what he needs to do in Washington to get change
done."
Obama, before a crowd of 900, said he was "absolutely
convinced" that Americans "don't care whether you are black,
white, brown or green."
"If I came to you and I had polka dots," he said, "but
you were convinced that I was going to put more money in
your pockets and help you pay for college and keep America
safe, you'd say, 'OK, I wish he didn't have polka dots, but
I'm still voting for him.'"
If the racial minefields are worrisome, they don't keep
Obama from having fun with the heavily black audiences here.
The Harvard Law School graduate sometimes playfully breaks
into a black vernacular, which seems to amuse him and his
audiences greatly.
"I need you to grab Cousin Pookie to vote," he told a
crowd in Kingstree on Thursday. "I need you to get Ray-Ray
to vote."
At a similar rally in Dillon, Obama said Clinton was
ducking the need to shore up Social Security. "There are
some things that aren't right," he said, "and some things
that just ain't right. And that ain't right!"
He chuckled, the crowd laughed and cheered. "In
Washington," he added with another big grin, "that's how
they do."
James Thrower, a federal government employee from Sumter,
is among those black voters charmed by Obama this week.
"In the beginning of this campaign, I didn't think
America was ready" to elect a black president, Thrower, 50,
said after an Obama rally. "Now I do."
"This country needs some fresh blood," he said, and he
will pick Obama. "We don't need Clintons back in control."
But both Clintons, campaigning separately, have wooed
black and white supporters in South Carolina this week. An
event Wednesday in Kingstree underscored the tension and
suspicions animating the rivalry.
After fielding questions from an audience of about 200,
Bill Clinton called on a black man standing near the stage.
The man said he was a pastor and told Clinton that "black
America is voting for Obama because he's black." He said
Democrats are in a "dangerous position" because if Obama
wins the nomination, voters will elect a Republican in
November. "They're not ready for a black president," he
said.
Several black audience members nodded and said, "That's
right."
"I have to tell you I hope you're not right," Clinton
responded.
He said that despite the "mean things" said about him "in
the Obama camp this week," he would support the Illinois
senator if he is nominated.
"The reason I think Hillary is more electable is not
race, it's this," Clinton said. "If there is a security
crisis somewhere between now and the election, the fact that
Hillary" has served on the Senate Armed Services Committee
and visited more than 80 nations "will make it much harder
for them to spook people by saying she can't handle a
national security crisis."
The self-identified pastor later refused to give his name
to The Associated Press.
___
Source: Associated Press
webmaster@ceegaag.com |
