Barack Obama is the Superior
Choice for African-American
Voters Theodore Cross
For the first time in the
history of our country, a
black man has a credible
chance of becoming president
of the United States. After
the long nightmare years of
slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow,
and enduring race
discrimination, one would
e
more

Barack Obama is the Superior
Choice for African-American
Voters Theodore Cross
For the first time in the
history of our country, a
black man has a credible
chance of becoming president
of the United States. After
the long nightmare years of
slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow,
and enduring race
discrimination, one would
expect that, in the upcoming
presidential primary contest,
Illinois Senator Barack Obama
would be the overwhelming
choice of black American
voters. Not so!
National polls show that
Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama are drawing about equal
shares of the black vote.
The standard explanation is
that Hillary Clinton is the
inherited winner of solid
numbers of black voters
because of the tremendous
popularity of her husband
among African Americans. We
all remember how President
Bill Clinton campaigned in
black neighborhoods and
churches, showed compassion
and deep concerns for poor
blacks, and sought out the
opinions, advice, and even the
forgiveness of black leaders.
His remarkable ability to
relate to African Americans, a
quality missing among almost
all white politicians, earned
President Clinton both loyalty
and affection among many
millions of African Americans.
In fact, he was so admired in
the African-American community
that in 1998 Princeton
professor and Nobel laureate
Toni Morrison called him
�??our first black
president.�?� But Bill
Clinton�??s success in winning
the affection of African
Americans is only part of the
story. Senator Hillary Clinton
in her own right has turned
out to be an appealing
candidate for black voters. In
her so-called Team Hillary,
she has assembled highly
effective organizations of
dedicated supporters in black
communities throughout the
nation. Her campaign�??s legal
counsel is the widely admired
African-American lawyer Cheryl
Mills, the former White House
deputy counsel who defended
Bill Clinton in his
impeachment trial in the U.S.
Senate. In key states where
the black vote is large, and
possibly critical in primary
...

Category News & Politics

Tags african, americans, blacks, barack, obama, hillary, clinton, race, ethnic, minorities, racism, president, bill, primaries, democratic