Obama is what I call a “race avoider.” He avoids controversy at all costs, and that means anything on race which is likely to be misread. Look at poor Imus, trying to explain again what he meant. For an aging DJ looking for street cred, he can’t avoid it. But in a race for president, you must. If you want to win.
Besides, all Obama has to do is show up, turn the lights on and say his name. Race is his de facto billboard.
The problem is you end up with articles in today’s New York Times on Obama snubbing Muslim voters, where Obama is portrayed as a calculated brother with a “tightly wrapped message.”
Asian Americans know what it’s like to have been “snubbed” by Obama. Now apparently some in the Muslim community wonder why Obama plays it cool to the ones for whom he has the greatest affinity.
When you’re running for the top political office in America, that may have to be how it’s done as you try to win everyone over. But as we know, it runs the risk of alienating those closest to you, and makes them feel taken for granted.
Such is the balancing act of Barack Obama in the general. When you have to lure in the xenophobes too, you have to tone done the roots talk. I suppose that’s called the price of victory–compromise. You can get away with it when voters other option is John McCain.
But that may not be true for Asian Americans, who can easily lean rightward. In our community, Obama regularly sends out his surrogates,as he did in the Bay Area with a recent event headlined by his sister. But every now and then, we’re going to need to see the guy himself reveal to us his true self to offset the appearances of the campaign.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/us/politics/24muslim.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print