‘Black America Will Wake Up and Get It’

Well, it looks like the days when we will be judged by the content of our character rather than the color of our skin, as Dr. Martin Luther King told us in his landmark “I Have a Dream” speech, are yet to come. When asked why Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) leads amongst black voters, Michelle Obama, wife of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) responded in part that “Black America will wake up and get it.” Oh, I see. Obama’s campaign, predicated on his bringing hope and a breath of fresh air into Washington, has yet to connect with Black America because Black America hasn’t gone out and supported his campaign in droves just because the candidate is himself black.

If this weren’t so pathetic, I’d seek to poke fun at Mrs. Obama’s comment — but I find her logic to be hardly enlightening or hopeful. For having spent nearly eight years working on Capitol Hill and the better part of the first term of the Bush administration in the White House, I never wanted to be the “Black policy adviser,” just a policy adviser who worked as hard as I could to advance the agenda of the congressman, vice president or president. It seems to me that Mrs. Obama’s comment is a step backwards, a step back that implores folks to vote for her husband because he is black, not because he has the best vision, energy or path forward to lead the United States at the dawn of the 21st century.

Rather than the divisive tactics employed by Jesse Jackson or the Rev. Al Sharpton in years past, Obama’s appeal lay in the fact that he was a well-educated lawyer, politician and policymaker who happened to be black and running for the presidency. By insulting the American populace, particularly black Americans who have refused to endorse his campaign thus far for whatever reason, it appears the Obamas need to wake up and grasp the fact that a campaign based on race rather than policy and vision is destined to fail. Show us what you have, Sen. Obama, rather than the color of your skin as a reason why we should vote for you.