It wasn’t long ago that Sen. Hillary Clinton criticized Gov. Bill Richardson’s support for Sen. Barack Obama by saying "[Obama] cannot win." As ugly as it is to suggest, if Obama wins the Democratic  nomination for president—which, of this writing, looks inevitable—can he be elected in a country where there are still people who won’t vote for him simply because he’s Black?
We’d like to think of those kinds of people as a fringe of American hold-overs nostalgic for the days of colored water-fountains and lynching posses. Some of those people proudly wore their racial preference in Kentucky, and that’s about where we expected them to pop up, right? After all, we have a portrait of Appalachian middle-America as a bunch of uneducated, semi-toothless yokels living in the past. I resided in Kentucky for a time and can testify that yes, that’s 100% true.

But, as Obama’s run becomes more reality than liberal fantasy, I wonder how many of America’s closet racist—the ones who count their mailman and meter reader among their "black friends"—will rise up and express some reticence at casting a serious vote for a black man. Is there enough of racist America left to vote Republican out of spite and sweep Sen. John McCain into the White House? You bet. This begs the question if an Obama nomination is the best thing for the Democratic Party. Was Clinton right? In a country like ours, still immature about matters of race, could Obama possibly win?

Obama’s strong showing suggests that he can, because people are so hungry for change, they are willing to set aside their petty prejudices and racist presumptions. Nobody wants four more years of $4 gasoline and kids dying in Iraq. Some don’t want another Clinton administration rife with controversy and marital latent discord—who really wants to elect The Bickersons into office? They want change.
I don’t think Clinton meant any harm in her statement, but she definitely miscalculated the American public’s need for change. And nothing would change America like having a Black man in The White House.

TELL US: Despite Obama’s success, do you think there are enough racists to stop him from becoming the first Black president?

Image courtesy of chicagoist.com

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One.  TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)

It’s funny that even now, after all the marching and all the fighting and such, we still think of Blacks in the electoral process as disenfranchised: we see the elections process—certainly as it involves delegates and super delegates—as an insider’s game where we have no ‘in.’ That’s why I found Keith Boykin’s piece on the 100+ Black Superdelegates particularly timely and informative. Boykin is really on point with this joint, and I’ll tell you why. This is information to reinvigorate the Black vote and let you know that You Have a Say. People that look like you and that may think like you are in the mix.

We think we don’t have a stake in the game because these are the Supers we see on TV. We mostly see pallid faces from the Golden Age of wink-and-a-nod, Old Boy Politics. It’s easy for some of us to decided to opt out of the process, because conventional wisdom suggests our voices will not be heard, our perspective not considered. Some of us have become so jaded by politics and this race in particular has been more like WWE wrassling than a run for office. Boykin took the time to gather these names and post their faces in an effort to remind even the most frustrated among us that we still have voice in the process. That we are sitting at the table. As hard as it can be at times, it’s important for Black folks to stay engaged in politics and feel invested in the system, despite what pundits say. Some of the faces on Boykin’s list are familiar (Like Donna Brazile above), some not-so-much, but we should all be aware of our local Super Stars.

TELL US: DOES KNOWING THERE ARE BLACK SUPERDELEGATES CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT THE ELECTION PROCESS?

Image courtesy of Flickr.com

(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One.  TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)