Prometheus 6

From most of my observations, it is usually the older generation telling the younger generation that they will never vote for a black man.  What does this tell us when the older generation is told by the younger generation that they will never vote for a black man? 

It means we're still on the tipping point. Black folks haven't been citizens for very long...42 years seems like a long time but from an historical standpoint it's the very razor's edge.

The Great Black Hope

A gaffe, they say in politics, is when someone inadvertently blurts out the truth. Thus it was when Joe Biden, the incorrigibly loquacious senator from Delaware, held forth the other day about Barack Obama, his fellow aspirant for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. "Look," he declared, "you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

The remark was of course profoundly politically incorrect, and profuse apologies were instantly on their way to Jesse Jackson, Alan Keyes, and Al Sharpton, all blacks who have run for the White House in recent years, and all of presumably impeccable personal hygiene and boasting impressive rhetorical skills.

But deep down, Mr Biden was spot on. Mr Obama, the 45-year-old junior senator from Illinois, is different. He is the first African-American candidate with a realistic chance of winning. And the reason, as Mr Biden so clumsily made clear, is that to the white majority of the country he hardly seems black at all.

(emphasis mine...,) 

Cornel West suggested in closing yesterday that things were staged and that people were whispering in Obama's ear that he ought not be in Jamestown. While I would not derive personal psychic sustenance from a symbolic gesture of racial solidarity - I think it speaks volumes that other folks are alleged to need or perceive assurances in the same. What a devilish trick has been played when solidarity with Black Americans is perceived as inconsistent with American solidarity

any impressions concerning the coincidence of the Jamestown and Springfield prayer meetings?

Intentional and staged, or, just the way things turned out timing wise?

What a devilish trick has been played when solidarity with Black Americans is perceived as inconsistent with American solidarity

That's a centuries-old trick, or the result of the fact that we weren't citizens until recently and even now that fact is disputed.

any impressions concerning the coincidence of the Jamestown and Springfield prayer meetings?

Since you ask...I think both events wanted the symbolism of hovering around Lincoln's Birthday. To that degree, it's no coincidence.

The fact is I didn't remember SOBA was due until three days ago.

Since Sen. Obama has said from the very beginning he's not The Black Candidate I don't think he actually gave it a thought.