Barack ObamaBarack Obama is upset that he’s being defined by his race. It is the subject that must not be voiced out loud. Its taboo. Every time someone broaches the subject of his race, Barack gets his feelings hurt, looks forlorn and accuses the Clinton camp of playing dirty politics. Ever the victim.

Obama hackles raised over enduring race issue

Barack Obama yesterday expressed frustration at comments about his ethnic background after the resignation of a Hillary Clinton campaign member who made remarks about his race.

Geraldine Ferraro, who became the first woman on a US presidential election ticket in 1984, said Obama would not be in a position to claim the Democratic nomination if he was white or a woman.

The comment sparked the ire of Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, who accused the Clinton camp of setting an “insidious pattern” of attacks on her rival. Ferraro responded by pointing the finger back at Obama, saying his backers were criticising her because of her race.

She resigned yesterday, saying in a letter to Clinton: “The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won’t let that happen.”

After her departure, Obama said his primary victories showed he could draw support from all races and regions, and was not overly reliant on black voters.

“We keep on thinking we’ve dispelled this,” the Illinois senator said of the race issue. “And it keeps on getting raised once again.”

Obama and his surrogates point to the Clinton campaign for continuously raising the race issue. The thing is, the only people I’ve seen raising this issue are his surrogates. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Clinton or Obama, so watching them tear each others throats out is entertaining, but I find myself wondering why Obama doesn’t address the race issue directly himself. He could stop all of this. He’s the only one who can. He could stand up and tell his ‘followers’ to stop getting on the news shows and threatening to boycott the election if he is not the democratic nominee. He could stand up and tell his ‘disciples’ to stop telling anyone who will listen to them that they will go much further than a boycott if they feel that Obama is not being treated fairly.

He could stand up and use his eloquence to instruct his supporters that threatening to ‘recreate ‘68′ is not acceptable. He could tell them that he will be elected on his own merit, not because they are threatening to cause problems for the democratic party if he is not elected.

He could stand up and tell his people that this is how politics is done and that he is tough enough to take whatever his opponents throw his way. He could tell his supporters that Americans of African descent don’t need that kind of help. Contrary to the liberal view of things, they are not children and can, indeed, stand on their own, defend themselves and accomplish great things without being coddled.

John McCain has to take his lumps when it comes to the media and his opponents dragging out everything about him whether its fair or not. He has to laugh off the comedians making jokes about his age and the media washing out his face so he looks almost like a ghost when they put his picture on television or websites. Hilary Clinton has had to deal with continued questions as to whether or not she’s a lesbian, people making fun of her style (or lack thereof) and constant evaluations of her looks, her relationship with her husband and more. Why then is it off limits for Obama to be subjected to any of the usual free-for-all? Why are certain subjects off limits for him when every thing is fair game for every other candidate and has been since the first time a caveman decided to take over his neighbors cave, family and belongings. Whether you like it or not, that’s politics. That’s the way its done.

Barack Obama blames his name and the fact that half of his family heritage is Kenyan. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with the half of his heritage that’s of European descent. At least I’ve never heard him mention that part of his heritage. I’ve heard him whining about how people use his name against him. Now people are even afraid they’ll be accused of being racists if they use his whole name even though using politicians whole names is common (Hillary Rodham Clinton).

People are walking on eggs around this issue and its unacceptable. Obama is running for President of the United States, not President of Americans of African descent only. Right now he is squeaking by in the primaries that only the democrats are voting in. How do you think he’ll do in the general elections when everyone is voting? Right now he is garnering 90% of the Black vote. Do you think all those people are voting for him because they agree with him on issues? That would be nothing short of a miracle for that many people to have such similar views. Or do you think they are voting for him because he is half white?

Obama’s lack of addressing this issue is NOT presidential. A real leader would stand up and address this issue by telling his followers to stand down. He would tell them there will not be trouble at the Democratic National Convention. He would tell them that he will rise or fall on his own merits, not because of whichever race he is associated with. He would distance himself from the many people around him who are divisive characters and associate with those who are inclusive.

Barack Obama is a man who was raised by his white grandparents. He was raised in Hawaii for a few years and in Indonesia for a few years. His father abandoned the family when Barack was only 2 years old. His mother remarried and moved with her new husband to Indonesia. At some point, Barack returned to Hawaii from Indonesia and spent his teens there with his maternal grandparents. In essence, this is a man who was abandoned by both of his parents and therefore grew up with little sense of who he is. He was raised white but looks black. So when he came to the mainland to attend Ivy League schools, he apparently sought out an identity as a black man.

He associated himself with more radical, divisive individuals in the black community. You don’t have to look farther than the church he chose to attend or the woman he chose to marry to understand that this is a man who was seeking his racial identity from the people around him. He didn’t know how to BE black. He would certainly get an idea of that in the mean streets of South Chicago. What a conflict that must bring up in this man who identifies with whites, but wants to be black.

Understanding a little about his background helps me understand why he hasn’t taken a leadership role in the racial conflict that is swirling around him, but is not allowed to be spoken out loud. He declines to make it a racial issue, yet everyone around him does. He doesn’t seem to have the confidence of a black man to stand up to black leaders and tell them that he will not make this a racially divisive contest. He doesn’t have the confidence because he wasn’t raised as a black man. For all his eloquence he doesn’t have the words to tell the white community that he won’t allow them to be bullied into electing him President or be subjected to violence. He doesn’t have the words because having been raised in the racially diverse Hawaii and out of this country in Indonesia he is not familiar with the nuances of racism and doesn’t want to risk his standing in the black community by acknowledging that he is half white.

Understanding a little about Barack Obama helps me understand why he has not done what he’s needed to do to put an end to the divisiveness in this political campaign. He lacks the courage and the leadership to deal with the problem directly and decisively. By continuing to not talk about it, it will only grow bigger. By avoiding confronting his own identity and putting himself out there so that people can know who he is, he is doomed lose this contest at monumental proportions. He’ll in all likelihood blame race for that rather than garnering the courage to look inside himself for the answers.