Do Black People Support Sen. Barack Obama Because He’s A Brotha? Uh, Nope!

If they did, then perhaps The Rev. Al Sharpton would have done better in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary against Sen. John Kerry. As Rev. Sharpton and some other people discovered, black people are as sophisticated, diverse and deliberate about their vote as many whites are about their votes. Sen. Kerry dominated Rev. Sharpton in regards to the black vote in 2004 and that led, quite frankly, to Rev. Sharpton’s rather abrupt departure from the primary race and his subsequent support of Sen. Kerry as he went on to challenge President George W. Bush. I’ve been reading all over the place of so many people talking about how blacks are only supporting Sen. Barack Obama because he is black. But, if you look at the voting patterns of blacks, in recent memory, it has been heavily Democratic in the general presidential elections. Blacks have overwhelmingly supported the Democrats (we’re talking high 80s and low 90s from a percent standpoint). So, this is nothing new that blacks would be supporting Sen. Obama in this race over Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee for president of the U.S.A. Frankly, the Republican Party has not done enough to reach out to black people and have in essence written off the black vote (particularly in this current election). Even in the Democratic Party primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton had a decent share of the black vote early in the race and Sen. Obama had to fight to win the support of not only blacks, but also of whites and all people. Sen. Obama rolled up his sleeves and went to work to win the trust, the respect and the support of people of all races as his campaign gained momentum in the primary and now deep into the general election. No one criticized white people for voting for George W. Bush or John McCain in 2000 when theyran against Alan Keyes, the black Republican candidate. Was that a vote based on race? No, it was a vote based on policies and who has the best chance of being successful in a general election.