The 'Reality' Card

So, I grab the latest issue of Newsweek out of the mailbox the other day. The cover title? Obama, Race and Us.

As this primary season has evolved, I've tried to recall, within my lifetime, except during the days of the Civil Rights Movement, with one of the main outcomes of that movement, by the way, being the lifting of legal barriers, allowing for those of African descent to exercise the citizen's right to vote, when the topic of race got moved to the front burner, stewing on low simmer.

Polls are what they are, representative of statistics, which we all know, can and will be interpreted by whomever is reading the information offered. Well, the June 2, 2008 issue of Newsweek has plenty of statistical data, which it delivers as an open letter to Senator Obama offering advice, the author writes, in the form of a ".... honest memo to the candidate."

The most glaring thing about all of the data relating to race, that has been collected and presented by so many entities during this period, is what one might call the pivotal questions that show large majorities for and against a particular, articulated set of circumstances presented to the person polled  by the pollster, splitting almost identically and inversely along racial lines.

In the case of Newsweek's stats, when asked "Do you think Obama has enough experience to be a good president?", while 60% of Black respondents answered yes, 55% of White respondents answered no.

All during this campaign, we have been reminded ad nauseam that among voters that voted for Senator Obama, African Americans, depending upon the point in time you begin measuring the data, have given him their support beginning at around 80% to over 90%.

Among other socioeconomic indicators, Senator Obama has garnered support among the young, across all racial lines, with a significant number of supporters listed among higher educated, professional, young, White Americans, the definition of these criterion, except for race, left to those that termed them as factors.

It has been touted that Senator Hillary Clinton's base of support emanates from among older, women and 'blue collar' voters, again, except for women, to be defined by those who began using the terms.

If the statistics in any way are representative of hard numbers and for the purposes of this piece, let's assume they are, it would be safe to say that among voters within the African American community, given the numbers, majority support for Senator Obama logically cuts across many of the indicators mentioned here, except, of course, for race.

There are differences among the spoken policies of Senators Clinton and Obama yet, as Democrats, in contrast to Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, each of the Democratic candidates' policies would be arguably a great distance away from Senator McCain's plans for the future of America under four years of another Republican presidency.

Still, I found it a stark reality that, according to polls presented by CNN, despite the more similar than dissimilar aspects of candidates Obama and Clinton, among some, irrespective a desire to support the Democratic Party, when polled, these numbers were offered.

Among African American supporters for Senator Barack Obama, among those polled, when asked if their candidate were not the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States, would they support Senator Hillary Clinton, 71% said they would cast their vote for her.

When asked if Senator Clinton were not to be the Democratic Party nominee, 66% of Clinton supporters polled, identified by CNN as White, stated they would not vote for Senator Obama, with about half of those 66% saying they would vote for Senator John McCain.

Polls are what they are, by no means etched in stone. On Election Day, when each American participates in the electoral process, with the exception of those who may require assistance, they will enter the voting booth alone.

In the privacy, many might say the sanctity, of the voting booth, each citizen may choose whomever they desire for president, away from possibly disapproving eyes.

Shortly after midnight on June 4, 2008, the morning after the two final primary contests in the United States to determine the presumptive Democratic candidate for the office of the President of the United States, with the number of delegates needed to earn bragging rights being 2,118, Senator Barack Obama, his first name means blessed, becoming the first African American to be the presumptive nominee for the office of President of the United States in the Democratic Party, had attained a delegate count of 2,156.

He will become the official Party nominee at the Democratic National Convention, hosted in Denver, Colorado, with the nominee due to hit the stage on August 28, the 45th anniversary of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s delivery of his I Have A Dream speech.

An item on the ongoing nonconcession concession/suspension of Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign.