I commend Barack Obama for trying to run a “post-racial” campaign, one in which he wants to people to see his ability and not his color. However, I also find this both naive and troubling. First of all, I have yet to meet a truly “color-blind” person. Now, I have met people who don’t choose friends, associates, employees, business partners, etc. based on color and look at the characters, qualifications and capabilities of the the people with whom they choose to enter into relationships. However, people see color. It’s a very visible characteristic and, therefore, not easily ignored.

Unfortunately,in America, we have many inferences made about people based on skin color. If you happen to be black, you are often assumed to be less qualified, less educated, morally-deficient and of lower intelligence than your white counterparts. Often, to be black, is to be placed outside of the mainstream while simultaneously being criticized for not abandoning your identification with other black people and adopting more “mainstream” values.

Obviously, America has never definitively addressed the issue of race. This is why some issue flares up every few years that futher stirs the troubled waters of race. In our communities and workplaces, we (kind of) debate the current issue for a week or so (or longer if it’s O.J. Simpson), talk about the need for a national dialogue on race and wait for it all to blow over. We all do it, black people not excluded.

This is why I find it no surprise that quite a few Obama campaign supporter are seeing, firsthand, how deep some racial hostilities run.

In addition to some not-so-subtle statements made to them by voters about why they would not vote for a black candidate, others are dealing with vandalism and bomb threats to campaign offices.

We can always hope for and push for a post-racial society. I want it for my son and will strive to make it so. However, we are not there, now, and trying to ignore the issue certainly won’t get us there.

Popularity: 3% [?]

All I can say is “Wow!”

EDIT:  It looks like YouTube took down the earlier video.  Get this one while you can.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Surprise — more race-baiting from the Clinton campaign!

This time, it’s from the candidate herself.

In attempts to make her case for the nomination (though her chances are currently slim), she wants to remind us that she is the candidate of white voters.

“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,” she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article “that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”

“There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said.

Now, how is it that you have a much broader coalition when Obama has some of those same working-class white voters, some of those white women voters you tout, a solid majority of the black vote, a solid majority of the youth vote and more independent voters.

That, to me, is quite a broad base.

However, what Clinton is really doing is trying to remind white voters that Obama is the “black candidate” and insinuate that white America may not vote for a black guy.

Obviously, desperation is kicking in because, the kitchen sink strategy just went into overdrive.

Popularity: 6% [?]

San Diego State has suspended 6 fraternities on their campus because it appears that members were involved in a massive drug ring. The fraternities in question are Theta Chi,Lambda Chi Alpha, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Kappa Theta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Mu.

This comes after the arrest of 96 people, 75 of whom were San Diego State students. The arrests were the culmination of a nearly year-long investigation, spurred by the overdose death of a 19-year-old sorority member at the school last year.

Police seized cocaine, ectasy and guns.

The irony is that one of the students that got busted was about to graduate with a Masters in Homeland Security and another was majoring in Criminal justice.

Popularity: 6% [?]

I only have about 30 seconds of video on this but, it shows Philadelphia police snatching 3 men out of a car and pummeling them.

The story says a half-dozen officers beat these men but, as you can tell from the video, there are WAY more than 6 officers beating and kicking these men.

One really has to wonder what the use of force policy is for Philadelphia police.

Popularity: 7% [?]

If you’re not a politics geek like me, you might not know the two players in this scene. Donna Brazile has a long, distinguished resume but, many know her as a long-time Democratic insider who has held such high positions as campaign manager for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential run and head of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. Lately, she’s be working as a political contributor for CNN.

Paul Begala, on the other hand, is one of those people who seems to see politics more as a business and a game so, he is always in spin mode. So, a few hours ago, he tried to put words in Ms. Brazile’s mouth by saying she was advocating that the Democratic party abandon white, working-class voters. Well, Ms. Brazile proceeded to remind him of her credentials in campaigning for the votes of working-class whites and checked him on his attempts to drive wedges between the constituencies that comprise the Democratic party.

Popularity: 7% [?]

As expected, Obama took North Carolina but, it was not as close as some in the Clinton camp had predicted.

However, the big story of the night is Indiana. After the Rev. Wright drama, the Clinton camp had been saying that Obama was the weaker candidate and unable to win in “states that mattered”. In looking at the early returns, I thought Clinton would coast to an easy victory in Indiana and that she would be able to push this argument further. I flipped back and forth between MSNBC and CNN and watched a high double-digit Clinton lead shrink to 8 points, then to 6 points, then to 4. As I sit here at 12:17am EDT, 92% of the Indiana vote is in and Clinton is only up by 2%.

So, there is another possibility for Indiana. There are some areas where Obama was expected to perform well that haven’t turned in their numbers yet. What this could mean is that an expected Clinton victory could turn out to be an Obama victory. Or, nearly as bad for Clinton, she squeaks out a win in an area that should have been a sure thing for her, casting serious doubts on her claims that Obama couldn’t win in states with predominately white, working-class voters.

So, I’m going to stay up a little while longer to see how this turns out. I feel that I might be witnessing the transition of Barack Obama from Democratic primary contender to Democratic presidential nominee.

UPDATE: At about 1:15am, CNN projected Hillary Clinton the winner in Indiana. It looks like it will be a 51%-49% victory for Clinton. However, even with this victory, her argument to the superdelegates has been weakened. She has said that the delegate count and popular vote should be what matters. Well, Obama has increased his delegate lead and moved his popular vote lead from over 500,000 to over 700,000. The next two weeks should be very telling.

Popularity: 7% [?]

So, as we go into what seems to be the umpteenth week of talking about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, I want to know why white preachers associated with other politicians aren’t receiving this same level of scrutiny.

For example, John McCain sought out and got the endorsement of John Hagee. Hagee runs a church with over 17,000 members and is a televangelist. However, Hagee also has some views that many would consider extreme. But — surprise — there is no call for McCain to reject and denounce Hagee.

I have added a couple of clips at the end. The first is where Hagee refers to the Catholic church as “the great whore”, a “false cult system” and quotes Hitler as a way of likening the actions of the Catholic church to some of Hitler’s atrocities.

The second clip shows Hagee hawking a book (”In Defense of Israel”) in which Hagee says that Jesus never saw himself as a Messiah. In other words, he is saying that Jesus never saw himself as the Christ, which I would say is pretty interesting for a Christian minister.

Rest assured, there’s much more on this guy out there and I intend to share it with you. As I understand it, he has made some very interesting statements about why Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and a “slave sale” fundraiser he held in 1996.

At any rate, here are the clips so you can see for yourselves.

Also, here’s a sort of rebuttal of Hagee’s book by a member of the same Christian United for Israel group as John Hagee:

Popularity: 7% [?]

Well, Democrats, you just might have done it.

You find yourself on the precipice of losing your black supporters during this year’s election cycle. If you do, you will have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

McClatchy News Service has run a story about black voters and their possibility of staying home if they feel Obama is cheated out of the nomination. I can’t lie — I know I can’t stand McCain but, with Hillary Clinton trying to be Republican-light, I ain’t feelin’ her too tough, either.

Though they get the views of,primarily, voters in Indiana, I hear people from all over the country expressing similar disdain for the way things are going down in this election. Some might call it bitter or sour grapes but, when black people have so greatly supported a party for so long, to get slighted will turn a lot of folks off.

We also see how the so-called big tent of the Democrats really doesn’t have room for opinionated black people so, this is also leaving many to wonder where we really stand with them.

Democrats, the race is your to lose. If Clinton gets the nod, it better be because she flat-out won and not because of political gaming on the part of the party. Otherwise, you might have to kiss the black vote goodbye.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I’m not willing to play “YouTube gotcha” with this one so, I’ll let people decide what Hillary Clinton meant on this one. Is she saying, “God bless us — we’re rich and I want to preserve that for us rich folks” or is she saying “God has blessed rich people and we need to use our wealth to help”?

I’ll let the reader decide.

Popularity: 10% [?]