Can Obama unite black and white?

Sitting on the sidelines watching the best political entertainment we’ve had in a long time is hard. Especially for us as political satirists, who have provided the means for thousands of online visitors to gleefully thump and whack Canadian politicians.

We are riveted on the Democratic race. Obama vs. Clinton has become a frequent topic of dinner conversation. We poll everyone who comes over and probe them as to why they back one or the other. We politely change the topic when our guests disagree, lest we start hurling dinner buns and red wine at each other. (Our straw vote goes to Obama.)

I now tune in to CNN daily. I want to see the Democrats make history. We cheer on David Gergen as he so brilliantly reads the tea leaves, and advises Hillary that she should embrace her natural ‘fighter’ persona. Shockingly the next day, Hillary comes out swinging.

With Obama’s latest debacle over Rev. Wright, Gergen advises him (and millions of CNN viewers) that his best strategy is to get angry and let the American people know that Wright does not speak for him. The silver lining, from Gergen’s point of view, is that if Obama can come through this, it will prove his mettle. Tellingly, the very next day Obama denounces Wright and his mincing ‘performance’. Amazing coincidence.

Although we don’t have a vote, I’ve been musing about what could turn things around for Obama. Watching CNN, I wonder why he is always positioned as a black man when he is of mixed race heritage? With that mix, he embodies a unique opportunity: the uniting of both cultures.

So I Googled to see what conversations there were on this angle. Time Magazine in Feb.2007 asked the question, “Is Obama Black Enough?” The conclusion is: “Barack Obama’s real problem isn’t that he’s too white — it’s that he’s too black.”

Looking back to 2006, Gregory Rodriguez in the LA Times, asked Is Obama the new ‘black’? “But in this respect, Obama is a traditionalist. He clearly chooses a black identity, but he does so even as he embraces his Midwestern Anglo roots… Obama does not remind us of this nation’s original sin [slavery]. But he does remind us of an opportunity that we as a nation are continually missing.”

Can Obama unite black and white?
Seen from the perspective of May 2008, with the North Carolina and Indiana primaries imminent, I fear that Obama’s opportunity to be the voice of change is slipping away. Thanks to the Wright firestorm, he is starting to be seen as a divider on the US political landscape, rather than a uniter. And that is such a shame. He is diversity personified. The Reverend Wright saga has sent shockwaves through the Obama campaign, calling into question whether he, like his Pastor, holds extreme religious views.

The opportunity for Obama is to show that he brings both cultures and traditions together in harmony. To do this he needs to push his white identity forward, along with his black.

Franke James, MFA is the Co-founder of The James Gang.