Is the US ready for a black man in the White House?

Senator Barrack Obama announced last week that he had set up a committee to explore his chances of successfully running for the highest office of the most powerful country in the world.

But before he gets there, the slightly built man with a Luo heritage must first go through the wringer of US politics and survive the high-wattage scrutiny that will seek to examine every pore on his skin, the nook and cranny of his private and public lives, every wart on his face and every single hair on his chest.

To be sure Obama possesses many assets that elevate him among the favourites to carry the Democratic banner in 2008.

Married since 1992 to an attractive wife, and two very pretty young daughters, the bright Harvard graduate has a beautiful family that every American, black or white, would love to fawn upon.

Nothing softens the heart of North Americans than little children with cute ever-ready smiles, and Obama will be sure to showcase his family at every opportunity he gets.

However, Obama’s main calling card is his sheer charisma, that ability to hypnotise the audience every time he strides onto the podium.

Soon after he first appeared on the American political limelight to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic Party National Convention in Boston in 2004, Obama mania started.

At the time, he brought down the house with brilliant eloquence, prompting a commentator to dub him “the sharpest knife” in the Democratic Party. Obama went on to easily beat his rival in the Illinois senate race that year.

The secret to Obama’s lightning-quick rise in US politics is two-fold. Foremost, unlike his predecessors the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton whose politics were born out of the Civil Rights Movement and therefore oriented toward blacks and visible minorities issues, Obama has deftly appropriated the voice of the white middle class, the group that decides who gets into the White House.

When Obama opens his mouth to speak, he addresses directly the hopes and fears of white middle-class Americans.

Few eyes were left dry at that Boston Convention two years ago when he summed up America’s hope by saying:

“It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a mill worker’s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope!”

Secondly, when Jesse Jackson ran for the Democratic Nomination in 1984 and 1988, he was hobbled by an America still wary of thinking about a black president.

Polls show that 76.56% and 79.13% of Americans indicated that they would vote for a qualified black candidate in 1984 and 1988 respectively. Today, a whopping 93% of Americans would vote for a qualified black candidate nominated by their party.

Indeed, if life imitates art, American popular culture has signalled its acceptance of a black president — on television at least. Returning in Season Six, the extremely popular television show 24 starring Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland) has a smart young black US president Wayne Palmer (played by actor David Bryan “D.B.”
Woodside).

Two seasons ago, Wayne was the younger brother of President David Palmer (played by actor Dennis Haysbert) who was assassinated by poisoning.

The thing about both Wayne and David characters is that they are believable as commanders- in-chief, calling the shots, and making tough decisions while trying to deal with deadly terrorists.

Now, one could argue that these are simply fictional characters, and that in real life, Americans are still far removed from the idea of electing a black president.
However, imperceptibly, Americans are now contemplating a black president.

That said, Obama has his work cut out ahead of him. He will need to leap-frog in front of early Democratic favourite Senator Hillary Clinton who brings into the campaign the seasoned experience of her husband Bill, and a very rich war-chest believed to be about $100m.

In fact, the Obama factor may work in Hillary’s favour in that as Americans are forced to confront for the first time a credible black presidential candidate there may be a stampede to elect ‘the devil we know’ and make history by returning a white woman into the White House. Yes, American heartland may hate the Clintons, but is it ready for a black man in the White House?

Furthermore, Obama will soon find out how fickle US politics can get when the smallest of gestures, a sneeze, a yawn, can send voters scurrying away from a candidate who only an hour ago looked like a sure gold-medal winner.
It happened to front-runner for Democratic Nomination Gary Hart in 1988 when he was forced out because of a scandal involving a girlfriend.

Then two years ago, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean was looking like the runaway winner until he let out an excited primal whoop during a campaign. He went downhill from there, rejected as ‘too emotional’.

Having admitted to smoking marijuana and trying cocaine, Obama will need to convince America that he can be trusted to make good choices. More important, Obama must show Americans that his relative inexperience is a strength and not a liability.

During the 1984 Presidential debate, the incumbent President Ronald Reagan made mince-meat of the Democratic Presidential challenger Walter Mondale when he said: “I want you to know that I will also not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” Translation: Mondale is a baby in politics. Mondale was soundly defeated.

Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca