invisible blog

by Clyde Hughes

After Hillary Clinton gave her speech at the Democratic National Convention last night, few could argue that she’s on board with the election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States. Actually, did she really have a choice?

Clinton, while keeping her own political career in mind, doesn’t want to be blamed for Obama losing to John McCain in the November presidential election. She knows if that happens, it would make it nearly impossible to make another run at the top seat at a later date, at least as a Democrat.

McCain’s campaign wasted little time trying to fan the flames of alleged Hillary Clinton supporters with an ad suggesting that Obama didn’t select her as a running mate because she “spoke the truth” about him during the primary. The sad thing is that some of her followers will believe that ad and vote for McCain.

Unfortunately, some are not sophisticated enough to know that the same group that put together that ad had prepared vicious attack ads against Clinton if she was the nominee.

I’m having a hard time finding the rationale of how a Hillary Clinton supporter can make the leap over Obama to McCain. If you look where Clinton stands on issues from women’s rights, the economy, health care, abortion, education and compared them to where Obama and McCain stands, it’s not even close.

Yet, there are some Clinton supporters who still insist that the best thing for the country is to vote for McCain since Clinton is not the party’s nominee. I’ve reached this conclusion about the situation. These “supporters” were not going to vote for Obama under any circumstances and claiming to be a “Clinton supporter” has become a convenient excuse not to support Obama.

I heard pundits for the past four months question: “If 70 percent of the public thinks the country is going in the wrong direction, why doesn’t Obama have a bigger lead? Why can’t Obama close the deal?”
The deal is not Obama’s to close, but the American people. There is one reason why Obama is not hovering around the 55 percent mark now and why there are still so many undecided voters, but people are afraid to say it. It’s about race.

To admit race would admit ill intent, and since most people want to avoid being viewed as having ill intent, like racism, they will come up with every “other” excuse not to vote for Obama, all the while race is at the very heart of the reason.

What has Obama done differently that would not have earned him loyal Democratic votes already? What has he done not to win many independents? Think hard?

It’s a question that also puzzled the pundits because they don’t want to admit to the obvious reason, too.
Clinton’s speech was right on point and she said all the right things. But the reason why Obama does not have a comfortable lead in the polls has nothing to do with politics. Race is staring the American electorate in the face. Despite Clinton’s well-meaning words Tuesday, it will come down to if Americans have the courage and willing to put aside its past racial bagged to actually consider placing an African-American in the White House.

What did you think of Hillary’s speech? Let us hear about it in the comments!