- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
He is a "candidate". And that's why he could win in America. "Black candidates" like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will not, and should not ever win in America.
Obama is bridging the divide by making it a non-issue. As opposed to the one-act antics of the previous racially opportunistic reverends whose focus was and is controversy and dissention. Why face social facts that can be addressed to make positive differences when there is a Tawanda Brawley around for easy headlines and little required to keep your own face on CNN? When is the last time you heard either of those men talk about teen pregnancy or black on black violence? Never? Not when there is a fleeting but incendiary incident where they can insert themselves. Michael Jackson says he is getting a raw deal from Sony....Al Sharpton to the rescue!!!
Obama is a statesman who will go after issues...not racially charged sound bites. And white folks know that. Sadly, it makes him unappealing to some black folks who refuse to think there is a percentage in returning race relations to a state of dignity.
Let the gender and race free election begin. Because this one isn't about either of those things.
