The Black Commentator - August 16, 2007 - Issue 242

The Black Commentator - August 16, 2007 - Issue 242: "The conversation around whether Illinois Senator, Barack Obama was “black enough” to be considered a “black president,” reached a crescendo last week at the National Association of Black Journalist national convention. The question that has dogged this presidential election’s “black” (and most exciting) candidate for months had its origins in the black press. Obama finally had the chance to confront the source, but only after convention delegates decided to apply the same question to New York Senator, Hilary Clinton, that day before Obama’s appearance. No other candidate, to date, had been confronted with such a question. Richardson hasn’t been asked is he Hispanic enough, though many Latinos were hardly aware of his candidacy before recent efforts to publicize it, due to Richardson non-Latin surname. Nobody has used campaign time to ask Rudy Guiliani if he’s Italian enough, or Mitt Romney if he’s Mormon enough (though some have asked if he’s “too Mormon'). And of course, nobody has asked Hilary if she’s woman enough, despite obvious attempts to soften up her image. It’s Obama who has had to try to justify his presence among Blacks and Whites, as he has sought to define himself outside the preacher/politician construct of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton."