Barack Obama and the Dream of a Color-Blind America

Whites' Great Hope?
Barack Obama and the Dream of a Color-Blind America
By JONATHAN KAUFMAN
November 10, 2007; Page A1

Portland, Maine

Isaiah Oliver, a 24-year-old white social worker, grew up in this overwhelmingly white city and attended the predominantly white University of Richmond in Virginia. Ask him why he supports Barack Obama and he says it's because of the candidate's race.

"Because he's black it makes me want to believe that he will change things," says Mr. Oliver, leaving an Obama campaign rally here. "It feels like you are part of something that's starting to change American politics. It's the cool factor. He's a rock star."

As he campaigns across the country, Sen. Obama, the son of a black father and a white mother, is both revealing and tapping into a changed racial landscape, especially among younger whites. 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.

Sen. Obama's candidacy, whether it succeeds or not, appears to mark a turning point in race and politics in America: It is prompting significant numbers of white Americans to consider voting for him not despite his racial background, but because of it.

"Obama is running an emancipating campaign," says Bob Tuke, who is white and is the former chairman of the Tennessee Democratic party. "He is emancipating white voters to vote for a black candidate."

Sean Briscoe, a 24-year-old white who writes a political blog in Nashville, is one: "Obama doesn't come with the baggage of the civil-rights movement, focusing entirely on the race issue," he says. "He went from Hawaii to Indonesia. He has been in all these places where you get an appreciation for people who aren't like you."

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He is going to loose because he seems to idealistic and not solid on the ground. I don't know how to explain it better. He is I think in himself a good man. But he attracts zealots and it makes him seem irresponsible. Just look at the ones on this site. They think by bashing other opponents they make it look greater, but all it does is cheapen him.

I think Obama should have waited to file for the presidency till some time in the future. I my self do no think I would want him right now as he does not see as mature as I would like a president to be. He is intelligent and basically honest. But he does not know how to get these points across and if he had only waited, but he might be able to make a run again.

how you and others perceive what's going on on this board, I think the Obama fans are less vocal than many others here. And I perceive that there are bigots among us, so I'm glad Obama isn't using his ethnicity as a 'tool'. I can't even imagine the outcry if that happened.
As to him waiting, why? Not mature enough? At what age do you think he'd be mature enough for you? Maybe you just don't like him. :think: I think he's as qualified as Edwards, Kucinich, Clinton, to name a few. ;-)

Until we get rid of people willing to gain power at the expense of the country's well-being we will get no where.