Racial Divide, Courtesy of Hillary?

It seems that the voter base needed to win the Presidency cannot be won by Barack Obama, but Democrats are still contemplating giving him the job…because he’s black.

Someone call Geraldine Ferraro, I think she deserves an apology.

Is the Democratic Party’s goal to win the Presidency, or is it to pander to black voters? Granted, among Democrats pandering to black voters is an integral strategic element necessary to secure an election, but in this reversed “either, or” situation, Democrats are showing their true colors…so to speak.

According to the Washington Post, some Democrats believe “the party could suffer irreversible harm if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintains her sharp line of attack against Sen. Barack Obama.” What “sharp line of attack” are they referring to? Oh, you mean the I’d-make-a-better-President-than-he-would line of attack. How dare Sen Clinton assert such things…and in an election year. Why, you’d think she wanted to be President.

Hillary Clinton’s current course will not destroy Barack Obama…per se, but it will force the Democrats to choose between being the party of the people and being the party in power. Unfortunately, in an election year that initially looked like a Democratic slam dunk, neither Hillary nor Obama seems to lead to the White House, and both threaten to disenfranchise a significant portion of the Democratic voter base. That is the racial divide Democrats fear.

This must be a Democrat’s worst affirmative action nightmare: the right candidate, the Wright candidate, or the white candidate. The choice of one is dictated by its perception as the other. Do they maintain their stranglehold on the black vote by continuing to perpetuate the irrational culture of oppression embodied in Sen. Obama, the so-called Rev Jeremiah Wright, and the “unashamedly black” flock at Trinity United Church of Christ, or do they risk alienating black voters by calling Obama’s racist kettle “black.”

Democrats cannot win without the black vote, but they cannot even compete without the white vote. At a mere 13% of the US population and typically a little over 11% of the voting population, 90% of black voters tend to vote Democrat. That means black voters represent almost a 10% Democratic lock in the popular vote. Yet, with 10% of the popular vote perpetually secured, Democrats have still failed to achieve the meager 47% of non-black voters needed to capture the election in 5 of 7 of the last Presidential elections. In the words of James E. Clyburn, “It's almost saying black people don't matter.”

He’s right.

Black voters have been segregated within the US political forum, and while distinctly separate, they are not equal. Neither party genuinely or vigorously competes for the black vote; Republicans can’t, while Democrats don’t need to. Bought with simple, divisive, populist lip service and held in place by chains of oppression, the black vote has been taken for granted, its significance limited to the sad fact that it is free to be exploited without further investment.

Hillary’s ambition threatens to pull back the veil. Shhhh, nobody tell her.