Obama : fading to black?

Obama: Fading to black?
June 29, 2007

MARY MITCHELL [email protected]

For a presidential candidate who has refused to be pigeon-holed as the "black candidate," Sen. Barack Obama found himself fading in a staged battle for the hearts of black voters Thursday night.

Billed as the "All-American Presidential Forum," the televised debate brought the eight Democratic contenders to Howard University, one of the most prestigious schools in the network of historically black colleges.

The gathering of presidential hopefuls was also a prime time showcase for Tavis Smiley, a media celebrity, and his book, The Covenant with Black America, a New York Times best-selling collection of essays that offer solutions to a variety of problems plaguing impoverished minority communities.

It was the first time a panel of journalists of color, with a black moderator, posed the questions to the candidates.

Close ties shine through
It was clear from the answers to the first questions that Obama's chief rival, Hillary Clinton, spoke with greater confidence on race issues, and in fact she brought many of the women in the audience to their feet when she addressed the alarming rate of HIV/AIDS infections in the black community.

"If HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 24 and 34, there would be an outrage in this country,'' she said.

What black woman hasn't uttered those same words at one time or another?

While it should have been Obama's night, Clinton's close ties to the African-American community shone through in her remarks, offering a boldness that frankly was missing from Obama's responses.

For example, when asked if racism is still an intractable issue of the day, Clinton acknowledged that progress had been made, pointing out that she shared the stage with an African-American and a Latino candidate.

"But there is so much to be done," she said. "For anyone to assert that race is not a problem in America is to deny the realities before our very eyes."

She also used a phrase from The Covenant, "the cradle to the superhighway," showing that she had at least picked up a book being touted as one of the most important for the African-American community in recent times.

Surprisingly, Obama continued a balancing act in which he points out the unfairness African Americans face in their daily lives but also criticizes the negative behaviors often found among the impoverished.

Wife more passionate
"We live in a society that remains separated for opportunities for African Americans, for Latinos," he said. "It is critical for us to recognize that there are going to be [expectations] on the parts of African Americans and other groups to take personal responsibility to rise up out of the problems that we face. ... There has to be a political will in the White House to make that happen. That's the reason why I'm running for president."

(Frankly, Michelle Obama, who has been tapped to convince women that her husband is the "real deal," was more passionate on the issues when she spoke at a fund-raising luncheon earlier in the day.)

Obama failed to strike a forceful tone on the race issue, and that's unfortunate since he has to run past a gauntlet of black leaders who are supporting Clinton.

Fails to shift with ruling
Although the latest Gallup polls show Obama running neck and neck with Clinton in the race for black voters, that can change if black voters think they are being taken for granted or that Obama isn't willing to stand up for their issues.

Despite preparation that included a briefing session with Obama's policy experts and a conversation with a group of young people from Chicago who were in town for a Youth Empowerment summit, the ground shifted dramatically after the Supreme Court ruled earlier in the day that race could not be used as a factor in public school choice.

But Obama didn't shift with it, even though the ruling will be seen as being detrimental to the majority of the people who are being targeted by the PBS forums.

Clinton didn't miss a step.

"The Supreme Court decision today turned the clock back on education," she said. "We have come a long way, and we have a long way to go. The march is not finished," she said.

Although the Obama campaign is being portrayed as a "grass-roots movement," Thursday night, it looked pretty ordinary.

Chicago Sun Times