Barack Obama is a presidential candidate of African descent. He's not the first.
- Shirley Chisholm in 1972 ran as the "unbought and unbossed" candidate.
- Rev. Jesse Jackson sought the Democratic nomination in 1984 and 1988
- Rev. Al Sharpton sought it in 2004.
- Lenora Fulani ran as an independent in 1988 and 1992.
- Alan Keyes is seeking the Republican nomination in 2008 as he did in 1996 and in 2000.
The difference is that Obama has the funding and the intangibles to win and become our next US president. What he doesn't have is unqualified support of the African American voters. The Black vote is split between Obama and Clinton at this point.
As such, I found the recent study done by Theodore Cross, editor of The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education very enlightening. Cross' comparisons are directed solely at the domestic initiatives of special concern to African Americans from both Clinton and Obama.
Click here to read the full study.Cross concludes that Barack Obama has a far superior program for the vast majority of African American voters than does Senator Clinton.
Obama offers a concrete plan to deal with the most serious problems of Black America. Senator Clinton, on the other hand, totally sidesteps all racial issues and concerns. She directs her campaign program solidly toward attracting votes of America's predominantly white middle class.
Cross also notes that existing poll results suggest that large numbers of Black voters may not be giving sufficient consideration to the import of an Obama presidency as a role model that might change the lives and expectations of millions of young Black Americans.
Villagers, are you leaning towards a vote for Clinton or Obama at this point?
