Posted on 01/18/2007 4:26:45 AM PST by Chi-townChief
If he runs, he just might win. Really, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has a good chance of becoming the first nonwhite male to win the presidency. Despite his lack of experience, it is his moment.
But more than that, there are plenty of politically engaged baby boomers who are tired of waiting to see the American Dream realized.
Yes, we've made some progress on bridging the racial gap. But it hasn't been enough.
In many urban areas, the public schools have been re-segregated, neighborhoods are starkly divided by ethnicity and race, and the impoverished are hidden from view.
Besides being immensely gifted, Obama has intimate knowledge of the best and worst of black and white relationships and our often-intolerant behavior toward each other.
He has an intimate understanding of the attitudes that keep Americans from capitalizing on their differences. And he knows that racial apprehensions aren't always driven by racism, but often by irrational fears on the part of whites, and deep-seated pain on the part of blacks.
If he can craft a message that brings this country together across racial lines -- something that ought to be the goal of anyone running for president -- he can win enough support to take the White House.
Unlike both the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who twice ran for president, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is considering entering the 2008 race, Obama has not set himself up as an advocate for African Americans.
Memorable speech Rather, he appears to be positioning himself as a healer, and a leader who can turn this country in a new direction. "A change in our politics can only come from you; from people across a country who believe there's a better way and are willing to work for it," he said in a message posted on his Web site that announced his formation of a presidential exploratory committee.
Obviously, some people aren't going to like that message.
But I disagree with pundits who claim that average black folks aren't impressed with Obama. How could they not be? Obama hasn't shied away from his blackness. Rather than an elitist, he is an example of what can happen to any of us when we make the most of our God-given talents.
Is America ready to elect a nonwhite male as president? I think so.
Even before reporters started asking Obama if he intended to run for president, a needy public was eyeing him as a potential candidate.
In 2004, when he delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, I was standing in a crowd surrounded by young, white people, most of them female.
"This man could be president one day," one of them said, while the others stared awe-struck.
If Obama is indeed counting on the black vote -- like all Democrats count on the black vote -- that could only become a problem if Sharpton jumps into the race.
"I'm waiting to see if someone raises the issues I want to see raised," Sharpton told reporters in November when he announced he had formed an exploratory committee.
With Sharpton in the race, we can expect to hear some of the "but is he black enough?" rhetoric that tainted Obama's unsuccessful run against U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in 1999.
Has the political capital With the unprecedented media attention Obama has received since taking office, it didn't take much of a push to get him to renege on his pledge to Illinois voters -- that he would not seek the presidential office in 2008. Some voters won't like his decision, but Obama wouldn't be Obama if he didn't heed this call.
After all, we've all been taught that opportunity knocks once.
In fact, at this point, not to run would be a waste of his talents.
Obama has the instincts, intellect, and charisma that communicate hope to others, and he has already proven that he has the political and fund-raising capital to make him a serious player on the national stage.
The majority of black people will understand the significance of Obama's campaign.
Because until a black father can look at his son and tell him in earnest that one day he could grow up to become the president of the United States, then America's great promise is as elusive as peace in the Middle East.
Until a black man can seek the presidency without worrying that something tragic may happen, then we really haven't made much progress.
No, Obama is not a saint.
He is a man -- who happens to be identified as black -- who has a desire to lead this nation.
The question now is this: Will America give such a man a real shot at fulfilling his dream?
mailto:marym@suntimes.com
You know know one and I mean know one knows what he stands for.....he's just black..and that is not a good way to elect a President...
Wow, a persons skin color sure is important to the media.
Photos of him dressed up in full Islamic student regalia in Indonesia won't go over well with the average American.
While denying it, Hillary will start leaking disquieting information about Obama. She won't allow him to walk off with the nomination, and she certainly won't take the VP spot.
We were told that here in IL that Barack Hussein would never be elected but he pulled off a cheap easy dirty trick and was well on his way and now he's The Golden Rat. I expect the same kind of moves from he and his minions once the campaign really gets moving later this year.
Let the demagoguery begin.
Guilt, blame others, whine snivel.....
Subject: LET US REMAIN ALERT
Probable U. S. presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black Muslim from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white atheist from Wichita, Kansas. Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii.
When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a radical Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a Muslim school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school.
Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, "He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school."
another sign of things to come----
Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Osama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the radical teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world.
Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when seeking major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background.
Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy
BUT UNTIL THEN.......
Obama was raised by a single white mother. His sperm donor doesn't deserve to be called his father as he abandoned the kid when he was two years old.
Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to black Muslim Barack Hussein Obama Sr. of Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, and White atheist, Ann Dunham of Wichita, Kansas.
When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced and his father returned to Kenya. His mother married Lolo Soetoro, a Muslim as well, moving to Jakarta with young Obama, when he was six years old.
Within six months he had learned to speak the Indonesian language Obama spent "two years in a Muslim school, then two more in a Catholic school" in Jakarta.
Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. Mitigating that information, by saying that for two years, he attended a Catholic school.
Obama's father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was a radical Muslim who migrated from Kenya to Jakarta, Indonesia. He met Obama's mother, Ann Dunham?at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Obama's spin- meisters are now attempting to make it appear that Obama's introduction to Islam, came from his father and that influence was only temporary, which is true. Obama Sr. returned to Kenya immediately following the divorce and never again had any direct influence over his son's education. But, Lolo Soetoro, Ann Dunham's second husband, educated his stepson Barack Hussein Obama, as a good Muslim by enrolling him in one of Jakarta's Wahabbi schools.
Wahabbism is the radical teaching that created the Muslim terrorists, who are now waging Jihad on the industrialized world. Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when you are seeking political office in the United States, Obama joined the United Church of Christ, to help purge any notion that he is still a Musli
In addition, one canNOT convert from Islam to Christianity and be allowed to live.
Obama's history is so twisted and full of inconsistencies that that it's obvious he's hiding something big.
It is sad and almost sickening, but there will be people who think that having an absent father will help his Blackness.
This should cancel the defect of his not having slave ancestry.
It should not work that way, but...When the Media is desperate to make something work, the cynical depths they will go to has no limits.
She wasn't single. She married a radical Muslim Indonesian, so he was still in a two parent home.
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