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So Far, Obama Can’t Take Black Vote for Granted
new york times ^ | 2/2/07 | RACHEL L. SWARNS

Posted on 02/02/2007 1:07:22 PM PST by mathprof

He is hailed by his supporters as the hope of an increasingly multicultural nation, a political phenomenon who can wow white voters while carrying the aspirations of African-Americans all the way to the White House.

So why are some black voters so uneasy about Senator Barack Obama?

The black author and essayist Debra J. Dickerson recently declared that “Obama isn’t black” in an American racial context. Some polls suggest that Mr. Obama trails one of his rivals for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the battle for African-American support.

And at the Shepherd Park Barber Shop here, where the hair clippers hummed and the television blared, Calvin Lanier summed up the simmering ambivalence. Mr. Lanier pointed to Mr. Obama’s heritage — he is the American-born son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas — and the fact that he did not embody the experiences of most African-Americans whose ancestors endured slavery, segregation and the bitter struggle for civil rights.

“When you think of a president, you think of an American,” said Mr. Lanier, a 58-year-old barber who is still considering whether to support Mr. Obama. “We’ve been taught that a president should come from right here, born, raised, bred, fed in America. To go outside and bring somebody in from another nationality, now that doesn’t feel right to some people.”

On Wednesday, the question of race took center stage in the presidential campaign because of remarks that Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, made about Mr. Obama. Mr. Biden characterized Mr. Obama as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” and then spent the day — his first as an official presidential candidate, explaining and apologizing for his remarks.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: electionpresident; emptysuit; hussein; mrclean; nostreetcred; obama
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To: mathprof

Sad to say but he or whoever the Dem nominee is can and will take the black vote for granted. And isn't it funny that the MSM can say that women will vote for Hillary because she's a women or blacks will vote for Obama because he's black and there is nothing racist or sexist about it. But if white guys vote for a white guy Republican it's because they're racists.


21 posted on 02/02/2007 2:07:25 PM PST by techcor
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To: bondjamesbond

I wonder how many American blacks ancesters were sold into slavery by Kenyans.

I am not too hot on an American President with a White Atheist for a mother and a Kenyan Muslim for a father.

I dont know why any American would be.


22 posted on 02/02/2007 2:30:39 PM PST by sgtbono2002 (I will forgive Jane Fonda, when the Jews forgive Hitler.)
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To: mathprof

It's not easy being clean.


23 posted on 02/03/2007 1:21:01 AM PST by milemark (Headbutt: apply directly to the forehead. Headbutt: apply directly to the forehead.)
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To: pabianice
He's either whack or blite.

LOL :)

24 posted on 02/03/2007 1:25:32 AM PST by Navy Patriot (Zimbabwe, leftist success story.)
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To: mathprof

Morgan Freeman is right. People should just shut up talking and thinking about race all the time. If we did, things would be much better between all of us and we wouldn't have to endure such drivel from the NYT, Joe Biden, or Bobby "Sheets" Byrd.

It's time for black Americans to get over race, quit wearing slavery on their sleeve, and shun the trivial rantings of people like this Dickerson woman. If they'd focus on what THEY need to do to increase their success by improving their culture, we'd all get along just fine.


25 posted on 02/03/2007 1:37:34 AM PST by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
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To: Young Werther

I agree. It's reached the point of total absurdity.


26 posted on 02/03/2007 1:39:09 AM PST by Jezebelle (Our tax dollars are paying the ACLU to sue the Christ out of us.)
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To: mathprof

Chris Matthews treated the Biden 'clean' remark as hilarious, no big deal. We're all grownups here, moving right along...Imagine what he'd have said if Rudy had said it.


27 posted on 02/03/2007 3:39:31 AM PST by hershey
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