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Barak Obama

Illinois Senator, and Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, currently finds himself in an unusual position. Presidential candidates have often had to deal with ridiculous and politically inconsequential issues as they run their campaigns. Obama faces a particularly difficult, as well as bizarre, hurdle in his run for office. His "blackness," for lack of a better word, is being questioned as he makes his bid for the Democratic nomination for President.

Born to a black father, Barack Obama Sr. from Kenya, and a white mother, Ann Dunham from Kansas, there is no question as to the hue of Obama's skin: he is a black man. However, there are some who say that while he is an African-American, he is not "black." Obama is not a descendent of those who were enslaved in America prior to the Civil War. Neither he nor his father marched during the Civil Rights movement. According to some of Obama's critics, by not meeting these criteria, he is not truly a black American.

What does this mean for Obama's campaign efforts? It is possible that his attempts to reach out to the black community will be looked upon as insincere. If he is not really viewed as "black," his attempts will be seen as another display of political solicitation. Obama will be just another politician trying to garner votes by relating himself to a community to which he does not truly belong.

Efforts to link himself to the black community have been apparent since he first announced his intentions to run. Obama declared his candidacy for President in front of the building where President Abraham Lincoln gave his "house divided" speech. He drew further comparisons to Lincoln in claiming that he would attempt to unite the politically divided United States. Also like Lincoln, Obama is running for President with limited prior experience in government.

While the question "is he black enough" will not be answered until the election results are in, there is already evidence that some feel Obama is too black to win an election. Few other African-Americans have even attempted to capture a party nomination and none have succeeded.

There is the obvious race issue of whether or not white Americans will vote for a black man to be their next President. Within his own party, there is reluctance to nominate an African-American to lead the Democratic ticket. On Feb. 14, Senator Robert Ford, himself an African-American, defended his supporting of Senator Hilary Clinton over Obama by stating, "Every Democrat running on that ticket next year would lose because he's black and he's top of the ticket. We'd lose the House and the Senate and the governors and everything."

Questions such as these have begun to reignite debates regarding the role of race in politics. Why is race an issue in this or any election? A candidate for any office or position should be chosen based on experience and qualifications for the position. Obama should be explaining his stance on various issues, accounting for his limited experience, or defending decisions of the past, not trying to benefit from nor avoid being hurt by his relation to a particular race or ethnic group.

Many applaud his efforts to become the first black American President and are excited by his prospects. While not the first black American to run for a nomination, Obama is considered to be the first black candidate to have a legitimate chance of winning. Hopefully, an absurdly trivial issue such as skin color will not be the deciding factor in his efforts to secure the Democratic nomination and potentially the Presidency. Obama, like all other candidates, should be judged on his abilities and ideas alone, not by his particular pigmentation.

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