The ‘Black Candidate,’ All of a Sudden

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is now dropping in the polls in South Carolina, his lead diminishing as he loses the support of white voters there. How many of you remember that one year ago Obama wasn’t black enough? Democrats in great numbers dismissed his chances, saying he couldn’t go anywhere with white support alone as long as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) owned the black vote.

Now Obama enjoys 60 percent of the black vote and he is suddenly the “black candidate,” without ever having changed his message. He is being counted out after a predicted win in South Carolina that will be attributed to the black vote. Earlier this week fellow blogger Dick Morris wrote that once a racial subtext was created by such a victory, it would “trigger a white backlash that will help Hillary win Florida and to prevail the week after.”

In my column today, I wonder how this has happened, and what kind of racism dogs the Democratic Party. Let me know what you think.

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WILL WHITE DEMOCRATS ABANDON BARACK OBAMA NOW THAT HE HAS BLACK SUPPORT? Please send your comments and questions to askab@digital-staging.thehill.com to join my weekly video Q & A.