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Black Like Me?

(Continued...)

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FEAR OF A BLACK PRESIDENT Sharpton, Obama, Clinton

I do think that large numbers of mainstream white America will be able to ignore, with smug faux righteousness, Obama's skin color, which will be a sort of racism all its own. Support of him will amount to tacit condemnation of the black America that has had a difficult time escaping the institutional legacy of racism (both real and now somewhat self-fulfilling, which does not mitigate the tragedy of it). By propping Obama upon their liberal shoulders, they'll be saying, without ever having to utter a word, "See! This spear chucker pulled himself up by his bootstraps—what's the matter with the rest of y'all?!" (Note Senator Joe Biden's racially tinged comments on Obama being the first "mainstream African American" candidate who is "articulate, bright" and, most damningly, "clean.")

If Howard Dean was derailed by a scream, Obama will be undone by a whisperObama lacks the Southern, borne-in-the-pulpit cadences of our historic black leadership, which makes him in general an easier sell for whites. There's none of that pesky guilt, no oratorios reminiscent of water hoses, German shepherds, and billy clubs—just good old-fashioned pluck and luck and the American dream, unburdened by the ire of "I have a dream." America, white America at least, likes to feel guilty and blameless all at once. "Yes, we kept you down," their support of Obama says, "but let's not dwell on ancient history." Whites are saying one thing, but my gut tells me it's the politically correct fear of pollsters that is buoying Obama's numbers. As the primaries get closer, the liberal pack will become finely tuned to the slightest rumblings, ready to stampede at the faintest rustle through the political landscape. If Howard Dean was derailed by a scream, Obama will be undone by a whisper.

Which brings us to the donkey in the corner, the looming aspect of this candidacy that we ignore at our own peril: Hillary.

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TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE?

Among African-American voters, polls show that Senator Clinton is already beating out Obama three to one. (To be fair, it's early yet.) Hillary has a trump card among white voters, who, their liberal jones satisfied by a vote for a (white) woman, might feel absolved of having had to vote for a black candidate. She also has a trump card among black voters because she's married to a man "blacker," in the eyes of many African Americans, than "Barry" ever could be. I know Bill likes fried chicken and watermelon ... Barry, I'm not so sure about. Neither can carry the South, so even a Clinton/Obama ticket (in any order you like) is out of the question for the party if they want to win the popular vote. (Although the psychosexual power dynamic of either scenario is tantalizing: White woman president with a black man as VP, or black male president with a white woman as his subordinate ... wow. Must. Rent. Mandingo. Now.)

No, if anything, Obama and Hillary will split the PC liberal vote, and the electorate will pick the harmless, boringly charming John Edwards—perhaps with Obama as running mate, but hey, a bullet or stroke away would still be closer to a black presidency than we've ever been before!—or maybe Bill Richardson (the rationale being that a Mexican is kind of like a black person, only better at landscaping) and thereby avoid making the near-impossible decision to raise a black man to the presidency.

Roll on, to Oprah in '12.

David Matthews is a writer living in Brooklyn. His memoir, Ace of Spades, about growing up biracial in Baltimore, Maryland, is out this week from Henry Holt & Co.

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