THE ISSUE: Obama and white voters

OUR OPINION: Avoiding label as black candidate crucial to getting whites to cast ballots for Obama

It has been said the issue of race impacts everything in Orangeburg County. In nothing more than elections is that true.

Over the years, many local candidates have vowed to defy political reality. The white candidate professes commitments from African-American leaders and voters to support him or her over a black candidate. A black candidate says he or she will pull significant white votes despite the presence of a white candidate.

Come the day for primaries or elections, the candidates find themselves surprised. With a few exceptions, the trend of African-Americans voting for African-Americans and whites voting for whites continues. Precinct results establish the pattern clearly.

The candidates find themselves asking: What happened? Supporters of the other race profess not really to know. The pledges of support were there.

BUT, public and even private pledges of support mean nothing when a person enters the voting booth. Thankfully, the secret ballot remains the hallmark of the U.S. electoral system. A person can say one thing and vote quite another.

That is largely the fear of the campaign of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in the presidential race. He knows the history of national candidates nationally. Notably, the Rev. Jesse Jackson got a lot of votes, but the vast majority were from African-Americans.

Jackson was a polarizing figure running on a platform of issues of primary importance to African-Americans. He was not a candidate that appealed across the board as a leader of all Americans.

Obama is a different story. His candidacy has been about appealing to all Americans. He has worked hard to avoid being pigeonholed as the African-American candidate. It has worked.

Obama got huge numbers of white votes in getting enough delegates to win the Democratic presidential nomination.

But that was among Democratic and politically interested independent voters. Yes, he got white votes even in running against other white candidates, but that was for the nomination of a party that is on the left of the American political spectrum. What about the general election, when those on the right will vote − and many not participating in the primary process will cast ballots?

National polls show the race between Obama and Republican John McCain tightening. Pundits ask why. Rarely is the explanation related to the issue of race.

It’s a factor that cannot be ignored. As more and more Americans awake to the election and the two major candidates, a certain number of them will be impacted by the issue of white vs. black.

And not only in the South.

The challenge for the Obama campaign is to stay on message, stay out front as a candidate for all people. Avoid as much as possible making headlines on hot-button issues that give opponents easy ammunition to point out Obama’s race − and without even doing so overtly. Reparations for slavery is an example.

The Democrat remains the favorite to win the presidency. People tell pollsters they will support him where before they would not support a Democrat, an African-American, a Northerner, a liberal.

But those very same people have to cast a vote. And when they go into the voting booth on Election Day, the resulting numbers could look quite different than what the pollsters concluded.

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