Barack Obama: Not Ready for Prime Time

There’s been a lot of outrage this week about a comment made by Geraldine Ferraro:

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

The mystique began several years ago when the media talked about the young black senator from Illinois. In a December 11, 2005, interview with The Sunday Times, George Clooney said,

“...Obama, 44, has been dubbed his party’s “great black hope” and is widely seen as a credible candidate to become America’s first black president…he could attract the two groups who rarely show up to vote — young people and blacks. He’s the guy to get behind.”

Was Clooney’s remark racist? If Obama were white, would he have been his party’s “great white hope”? Politics is all about public recognition…name recognition. If you are not known or memorable to the public, you stand very little hope of competing in politics. Every successful candidate has had something that made them remarkable. Obama is an eloquent speaker, but the thing that makes him memorable is the color of his skin.

There are large numbers of people in this country to whom color makes no difference…they are white. There are also large numbers of people to whom color makes a big difference…they are black. They are people like like Jesse Jackson, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhon who want the issue to be color. Not only does it provide them with job security, but it allows them to use the cry of racism to deflect criticism and avoid answering the tough questions. Otherwise, Barack Obama may not stand up to the scrutiny. If they are successful in their intimidation, we may soon have a president who will never be questioned or criticized.