Obama's Win and Race

During the coverage of the Iowa caucuses last night, there was a common thread. Reporters, commentators, and pundits played up the angle that Barack Obama's win was historic.

That's true enough; but the suggestion that it was a stunning turn events, that it's surprising that whites in Iowa didn't hesitate to support black Obama because of his race, is insulting.

WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama has put to rest the question of whether a black presidential candidate can win in white America.

His victory in 95 percent white Iowa proved that he could appeal across racial lines and even draw women away from Hillary Rodham Clinton despite her push for them to make her the first female president. Next he'll try to build on his record in New Hampshire, which is 96 percent white.

Obama did not appeal so openly to make history as the first black to occupy the Oval Office; he rarely mentioned that he was black.

"You've got to have hope if you are a black man named Obama running for the presidency of the United States of America," Obama said during a late-night campaign stop two days before the caucus. It was one of his rare mentions of what he had to overcome.

Obama's candidacy has been dogged by questions about whether he'd be electable against a Republican. Pressed on that during a campaign stop in New Hampshire over the summer, Obama said his race would be an asset because it would bring blacks to the polls in record numbers and give the Democrats victories in Southern states that have been voting Republican for decades.

"I'm probably the only candidate who, having won the nomination, can actually redraw the political map," Obama said at the time. "I guarantee you African-American turnout, if I'm the nominee, goes up 30 percent around the country, minimum. Young people's percentage of the vote goes up 25-30 percent. So we're in a position to put states in play that haven't been in play since LBJ."

Lyndon Baines Johnson ran for president in 1964 and won in a landslide. But since then the South has turned into a Republican stronghold.

Obama's prediction about black voter turnout can't be tested in Iowa or New Hampshire, but young voters did come to the polls in larger numbers.

...Rev. Jesse Jackson took note that "this is the 40th year since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Tonight he would proud of Barack, proud of Iowa and proud of America."

Democratic consultant Jamal Simmons said Obama's victory "proves that America is changing when it comes to race and politics."

"Winning in Iowa is not winning the nomination, but is very significant," Simmons said. "Tonight Barack Obama has made it more true that every black child in America can do whatever they want to if they work hard for it — really."

What's with this time warp stuff?

Americans voting for black candidates is not a new phenomenon.

No one should be surprised that Iowans aren't racist. Iowa Dems chose the candidate they liked. That's as it should be. This wasn't a battle of the races.

I think it's kind of weird that political observers commend Iowans for ignoring Obama's race while Obama himself claims that he can redraw the political map because of his race.

Obama says, "I guarantee you African-American turnout, if I'm the nominee, goes up 30 percent around the country, minimum."

So, Obama promises that more blacks will turn out to vote simply because they'll want to vote for a black man.

He believes the color of his skin can bring the Dems success in the 2008 election? That's incredibly superficial. It's racist.

If Iowans rejected Obama solely because of his race, that would have rightly been considered wrong.

Shouldn't it be considered wrong to support Obama solely because of his race?

Is Obama running to be a black president or to be an American president?
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