Barack Obama's Political Cryptonite?

Hillary opined that what America needs is a President ready to lead on the first day of entering the oval office. Barack Obama retorted that being ready and having wise judgment are two different animals. Hillary voted for the war. She can't get away from the skunk. She has been sprayed. And of course, Obama gloats in the triumph of not having voted for the war in Iraq.

But with Obama having all but locked up the Democratic nomination, guns-ablazing have started shelling the Obama campaign. The teflon candidate who could do no wrong who "brings shivers up Chris Matthews leg" slammed into a brick wall.

Obama has spent fifteen months running a post racial campaign. Transcending gender, race, ethicity, and social strata, Obama stunned America with splendid rhethoric. Hope, aspiration, and energy have been the cornerstone of the campaign.

Then there was the record. The past drudged up. Reverend Wright, Lous Farrakhan, Michelle Obama, etc...that popped up out of nowhere.

He won't wear a flag pin on his lapel. He sat for twenty years under Reverend Right's black liberation theology damning America. Of course, his children were baptized through him. The reverend married he and Michelle. And Obama's "Audacity of Hope" book hit bestseller status with Reverend Right's sermon having been the inspiration.

Wasn't it Reverend Wright who endowed Louis Farrakhan with a lifetime achievement award? Wasn't it Farrakhan who highlights his anti-white sentiments with such phrases as "blond-haired blue-eyed devil" or "the white man is the skunk of the earth'?

Wasn't it Michelle Obama who stated that she was finally proud for the first time in her adult life to be an American during her husband's campaign? Wasn't it Michelle who publicly proclaimed American to be a "mean country" today?

Wasn't it Obama who stated that his white grandmother was a "typical white person" for admitting she was scared of black people?

The pattern of connect-the-dots is unmistakably clear. Those with whom Senator Obama has surrounded himself, provide unbelievable insight to the candidate himself. The Senator appreared to transcend racial issues much like Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan in their respective fields. Thats why the "latte liberals" were so taken by this nearly perfect candidate. Fresh face, impeccable rhetoric, unspoiled record, and youthful vigor delivered white Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, and the bulk of the popular vote.

Why? Race was not the issue. Likability and inspiriation were the issues...until....now!!!

Obama's handlers had Superman. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

The problem is: even Superman has his cryptonite. Girls may have fainted at his feet and crowds may have filled arenas to witness a remarkably charismatic man, but cryptonite was placed inside the campaign's war room. It was an inside job.

Conssider that Mitt Romney gracefully addressed religion and Mormonism, much like JFK chose to address the sensitive issue of his Catholic roots. Both did fantastically well in difficult circumstances.

Obama's address on race before America may carry the appealing incantations and intelligence that we have become use to, but did it really sell?. Forty states have voted. A majority have voted Barak as their new man for Democrat America. But his well-written and orated speech on race struck Americans in a remarkable way.

Independent voters, by 18 points, have turned toward McCain from Obama. Instead of repudiating Dr. Wright most forcefully, Obama called him friend and said he could "no more divorce himself from Dr. Wright than he could his own white grandmother."

The recent poor showing of Obama's campaign is synonomous with his choosing to touch the 3rd rail of American politics if you are a black man. Its the race issues. Obama soared and carried favor with all Americans before attempting to educate Americans that we have further to go in race relations. His comments about "typical white people" being scared of black folks isn't a winner either.

Obama's cryptonite is any black man's 3rd rail of politics that marginalizes him to fringes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson politics. Its the race card. Mainstream up and coming African-Americans such has Harold Ford Jr., J.C. Watts, Michael Steele, Lynn Swann, and Colin Powell have understood the cryptonite factor. Inject the race card and the American people immediately tune out the candidate. Lose gracefully and win gracefully, but leave race out of the equation.

To the liberation theology types that build their shock-jock message to rile up the fringe edges of minority politics, this is impossible to do. Their notoriety comes from not being a splendid American; but being a vocal minority with an ax to grind.

Obama will either choose to be a candidate that transcends gender and ethnicity as he has for past 16 months of campaigning. Or Obama will relegate himself to the marginal edges of lefty-loony politics joined by the Sharpton's and Jesse Jackson's of the world.

For the betterment of America, her future, and her children, let us hope Obama's judgment in his choice of words is better in the days to come than on the week he embraced political cryptonite.