Writes Frank Rich

EXCERPTS:

Part of the Republicans’ difficulty in countering Mr. Obama, should they have to, is their own cynical racial politics. For the most part, race has been the dog that hasn’t barked in this campaign despite the (largely) white press’s endless fretting about whether the Illinois senator is too white for black voters and too black for white voters. Most Americans aren’t racist, most Republicans included. (Those who are won’t vote for the Democratic presidential candidate even if it’s not Mr. Obama.) But the G.O.P., by its own doing, is nonetheless saddled with a history that most recently includes “macaca” and Katrina, Mr. Bush’s appearance at Bob Jones University in 2000 and the nonexistent black population of its Congressional delegation.

There’s another, even more fascinating hidden story line in the 2008 campaign that speaks to the potential prowess of an Obama candidacy. Despite the thuggish name-calling of a few right-wing die-hards (e.g., Rush Limbaugh mocking “Barack Hussein Odumbo“), the dirty secret of a number of conservatives is that they are disarmed by Mr. Obama even though they know his record is more liberal than Mrs. Clinton’s.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

REFERENCES:

1. Obama Takes His Campaign to Harlem
2. Obama Regrets
3. “Obama biro, yawne yo!” (Obama is coming, clear the way)
4. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
5. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
6. Barack Obama in His Own Words
7. Great Speeches by African Americans: Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama, and Others (Thrift Edition)
8. The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male
9. Hopes and Dreams: The Story of Barack Obama

Popularity: 58% [?]

Other Posts

• June 1, 2008 -- McCain’s Short List for VP Leaked to Press (0)
• January 30, 2008 -- Kenya - The Perils of Short Term Thinking (0)
• October 29, 2007 -- The Toronto 8 (0)
• May 14, 2008 -- John Edwards Endorses Barack Obama (0)
• July 13, 2007 -- What the ‘Terrorists’ can teach Bush about Strategy, Propaganda and Ideology (0)
• July 8, 2008 -- Frederick Douglass: ‘The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro’ (0)
• May 10, 2007 -- Tony Blair, “Bush’s Poodle” Set To Resign (0)
• June 8, 2008 -- VIP Security ‘Turf War’ — Kenya Style (0)
• March 27, 2008 -- Keep McCain off the Red Phone! (0)
• April 27, 2008 -- CNN Hires Bush’s Former ‘Liar In Chief’ Tony Snow (2)
• March 26, 2008 -- John McCain Delivers Major Foreign Policy Address (0)
• May 28, 2008 -- Double standards on nuclear weapons could be disastrous (0)
• March 3, 2008 -- The Hillary Clinton “Nod, Point, Clap And Cackle” Shuffle (1)
• May 30, 2008 -- Father Michael Pfleger Mocks Hillary Clinton’s ‘Fake’ Tears (1)
• September 6, 2008 -- Sean Hannity - Fox News’ Resident ‘Syphilitic Nazi’ Now Suffers From ‘WasillaBilly’ Amnesia (0)
• April 3, 2008 -- Proposed: The ‘George W. Bush Sewage Plant’ (0)
• September 9, 2007 -- Campaign For Reparations - Can Africa Make Claims To The West? (5)
• June 12, 2007 -- Alexander Applauds Michael Moore’s Movie “Sicko” (0)
• June 10, 2008 -- John McCain: ‘I will veto every single beer…’ (0)
• July 31, 2008 -- Kenya’s Tony Nyadundo Sings in Praise of Barack Obama (Snr. & Jr.) (0)
• July 21, 2008 -- Narcissists and Psychopaths on the Internet (0)
• August 15, 2007 -- White House Sex Scandals - ‘A Well-Trodden Path’ (0)
• May 15, 2008 -- The African Biases of Jendayi Frazer (0)
• August 9, 2008 -- The Party of The STUPID - FactCheck on Republican ‘Know-Nothingism’ & ‘Juvenile Smears’ on Obama (1)
• September 4, 2008 -- New York Post — Video Clip of The Day (0)
• May 25, 2008 -- CIA Imperialism and How Gaddafi plotted to bomb Kenya (0)
• April 3, 2008 -- ‘Race Chasm’ - Why and How The Clintons Will Use ‘Racism’ To Try To Derail Obama in Pennsylvania and Beyond (0)
• August 6, 2007 -- Progress in Iraq (0)
• April 22, 2008 -- Obama Smears - Fox News’ Racist Liars On A Rampage! (3)
• September 8, 2007 -- Bin Laden Predicts U.S. Failure in Iraq (0)