Why does it have to be this way?

I find it interesting that much of the national media is saying that Obama and Clinton are both injecting race and religion into this election.

In fact, Bill Clinton started this in South Carolina when he compared Obama’s South Carolina win to Jesse Jackson’s win in 1988. Bill Clinton could have mentioned that John Edwards won South Carolina in 2004, but he compared Obama and Jackson so that white people would perceive Obama as a candidate that only had the support of blacks. Of course, that would not make sense, because Obama had previously won in Iowa and Wisconsin, states with few blacks.

Mrs. Clinton continued the racial and religious dialog when she gave a partial answer to someone that asked her if Obama was a Muslim. Instead of her telling the truth, she gave an answer which implied she wasn’t sure what faith he practiced. She heightened the fears of whites by allowing a supporter to distribute pictures of Obama in African clothing.

If Mrs. Clinton wins the nomination, it will not be an affirmation of her leadership, experience or intelligence. A Clinton nomination will be a validation that race baiting and fear mongering is still the way to gain the support of whites.

The sad part of this is that the same tactics were used in an effort to keep blacks, other minorities and women away from the political process.

The ironic part is that in the 1960s, the Democratic Party supposedly repudiated these methods to win over the disenfranchised, which included (and still does) blacks and women. Now in 2008, a white woman and her supporters use these tactics against blacks in order to draw white voters.

It has been a common practice of the Republican Party to fan the flames of fear and ignorance in order to draw support from the whites who might not otherwise be inclined to vote. A favored tactic is to have a non essential member or “unofficial” supporter make an insensitive statement that can’t be directly attributed to the person campaigning.

The person who is campaigning for office does not immediately reject the offensive statement, but instead allows the media to sensationalize and distribute the controversial statement(s).

The media is happy to do their part because it helps them get ratings, readers and listeners. The campaigner waits until the statement has become a national story, and then denounces the statement. Denouncing the statement wrings out every last drop of publicity about it.

Once the remarks have become a national topic of discussion, the candidate fires the person who made the remarks, which makes the offended parties feel better. The offended parties fail to realize that the true purpose of the statements. The statement(s) purpose was to inform whites that the candidate shares their beliefs that minorities are an obstacle to white’s achieving the American Dream.

Anyone with even a simple understanding of politics and racial dynamics would know that the last thing Obama wants is to bring up race. America is a country that has a simmering racial and tolerance problem that is manipulated by our leaders and would be leaders. Obama knows this and has made a point of reaching out to whites, and placing the concerns of blacks inside a social agenda that is relevant to people of all races.

Yet, the media does Mrs. Clinton a great favor by portraying the Obama campaign’s responses to these attacks as attacks themselves. Can the desire to attract readers, listeners and ratings prevent the media from realizing the Clinton campaign is using them to stoke racial and religious fears?

I would like to think the media professionals are more intelligent than I am, but if they are, it means they realize what Mrs. Clinton is doing, and they know they are helping her promote racism and intolerance.

So far, Mrs. Clinton and her supporters have been successful at turning Mr. Obama’s success against him. Instead of people focusing on him winning more delegates, twice as many states and more votes, people are focusing on whether or not he is a Muslim, is patriotic or some other foolishness.

She is so desperate to win that she claimed someone from the opposition Republican Party nominee is more qualified to be president than Barack Obama, even though she and Mr. Obama are both members of the Democratic Party.

Republican Party members realize that criticism within the party could tear it apart, so they adhere to President Ronald Reagan’s “11^th Commandment”. If Mrs. Clinton admires the Republican Party so much, maybe she could adopt their commandment within her own party.

Instead of focusing on race and religion, I would like to see blacks and whites focus on the tactics of Mrs. Clinton and her supporters. After reviewing her campaigning methods, we should ask ourselves just what she is trying to accomplish, and why she feels the need to demean others on the way to her goal. Then we should ask ourselves why would we want a president who would do attack a member of her party more strongly than a member of the party she would face in the Presidential Election.

It's not whether you win or lose, it's who you support.

I am going to come right out and say it. I am a black man who is supporting Barack Obama for president. Why? Not because he has the best platform, and not because of his charisma.

I am supporting him because of the black “leaders” who are speaking against him while supporting their slave masters. These blacks have convinced me that they are examples of old and tired thinking.

These blacks are so mesmerized by the Clintons that they fail to see or care that they are being used to damage Obama's standing among blacks...... and whites.

When former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young stated that Obama should wait, it made me think of times when I have supervised blacks. There was always at least one black person who wouldn't listen to me, but would heed the words of a white person.

It didn't matter that the white person was not a supervisor, or that I WAS their supervisor. Sadly, some blacks just don't believe another black person can lead them.

Let me go back to Bob Johnson. I always felt that his Black Entertainment Television (BET) was a backwards enterprise that promoted the negative and unhealthy expressions of an oppressed people.

Even before he sold the company, BET was the only cable channel to accept hard-liquor ads. The proliferation of trashy, stereotypical music videos started under his ownership and has become so offensive that blacks have felt the need to protest against the company’s programming.

It does not surprise me that the Clintons can get Johnson to slander a black man. I just wonder how they can do that and still get away with the illusion that they support black people. Mrs. Clinton likes to play up her experience, yet does not mention the Rwandan genocide happened while she was First Lady.

But as dishonest as the Clintons are, I am especially disappointed in blacks like Maya Angelou, who endorsed Hillary Clinton. Did Ms. Angelou overlook the increased incarceration rate for black men while Hillary was First Lady?

I doubt the motives of Johnson, and Young. I suspect Ms. Angelou is guided by the mistaken belief that Ms. Clinton is a true crusader for women rights. Perhaps Ms. Angelou has fallen for the assumption that people are no longer characterized and marginalized by their race. I wish such a world existed.

I suspect that Johnson, Young and Angelou all perceive Ms. Clinton as a link to the Democratic party of the 1970s which fought for civil rights. I wish that was true. Ms. Clinton has worked mostly as a corporate lawyer.

Even if Ms. Clinton could lay claim to a civil rights past, her and her husband represent a Democratic party that has become more conservative in a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em effort to attract "moderate" Republicans and "independent" voters.

This strategy has resulted in Democrats voting with Republicans and sidelining issues like minimum wage, health care and social services - all issues of concern to blacks as we try to compete in an economy where slave owners got a head start.

The emergence of the Democratic Leadership Council helped to steer the Democratic Party away from social issues. Black leaders and organizers still look upon the Democratic Party as if it was the 1970s, when the Democratic Party reached out to black voters to gain an edge against Republicans.

Because many older blacks feel the Democratic Party is responsible for civil rights advances, the Democratic Party leadership does not need to actually work for our votes. They just wait until election time and visit our churches.

The truth of the matter is that Blacks from previous generations have helped the Democratic Party take our support for granted.

I can understand how this happened. There were times when blacks didn't have the right to vote or the right to eat or sit certain places. Those times are over, but some of our "leaders" have not advanced beyond being happy that a powerful white person is courting their vote.

If Bob Johnson, Maya Angelou, Andrew Young and other black popular figures can support the Clintons despite their track record, I say such blacks need to step out of the public eye and leave endorsements to new generation of blacks that see themselves as powerful and effective.

I am supporting Barack Obama because he represents a break from the old master-slave relationship between blacks and the Democratic Party. Obama does not need to kiss the rings of the old black leadership because many of them are too afraid to support him, less they incur the wrath of the Clintons.

Obama does not seek to emulate the Republicans out of fear, as does the DLC and by extension, Ms. Clinton. If anything, his approach is that it is in the best interest of America and the world that Americans seek common ground.

This may be dangerous, because the current Republican Party leadership has not demonstrated anything other than ruthlessness and war mongering.

Obama is not a perfect candidate, but he has negotiated the tricky task of respecting the past without being restricted by it. The blacks who have come out against him have not learned this, despite having the advantage of having seen us being pitted against each other for so long.

Young and Johnson could have found a way to express support for Ms. Clinton without disparaging Obama. Yet, they were so enraptured by the Clintons that they revealed how they truly felt about blacks...and themselves.