I asked this very question to a friend of mine, and their answer was that, ‘mixed race’ is not as sensational as the ‘black’ candidate. After letting the feeling of having ‘the penny drop’ subside, I began to nod my head several times at a sure and purposeful pace. To me it was true; a significant makeup of the Obama bandwagon is of a sensationalist nature of having a ‘black’, not a ‘mixed race’, candidate. And we all know, that nothing sells more than a ‘sensational’ story. Just ask Rupert Murdoch.
So for those who are wondering about the economic nature of this particular article, it is the fact that sensationalism drives and has always driven the media industry, and the Obama-mania is just that, sensational. They (the media) make more money with Obama being ‘black’ than ‘mixed race’.
Obama is ‘black’ because it is more of a ‘story’, but he is also ‘black’ because he is the antidote to the ‘white guilt’ felt by many Caucasians in America, particularly those in the politico-media establishment. For as Obama succeeds, their shame recedes; but it is not just about feelings of shame or guilt, an Obama democratic candidature puts to bed, the ‘race issue’. Barack Obama even as the democratic candidate for president, let alone the first ‘black’ president, would at least in some peoples eyes, put an end to the megaphone tactics of the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons of this world, affirmative action and all other things which (or who) have been put in place to deal the injustices African Americans have faced since 17th century Jamestown.
What of Hilary Clinton? Well, no doubt the slipstream of the Obama-media jet has all but blown her away, but it is also because she is a woman. There are some who say they would rather have an ‘ethnic minority’ in the Oval office than a woman, hence the excessive media scrutiny of Clinton and the free pass Obama has been given (misogyny at its modern peak). As a side note, there is another dimension to all this, it would be interesting to try and quantity how much of the pro-Obama vibe is actually an anti-Hilary feeling.
And what of those who are ‘mixed race’, that is those who have a black parent and a white parent? No doubt the struggle they have to deal with in western societies are pretty similar to those who are black, but what makes theirs a bit different is having the feeling that they are in the ‘middle’ i.e., in the words of a someone I know, “I’m nether fully black nor white”. And aspects of their bullying is different-name calling fixed on their ‘mixed’ nature. And where does Barack ‘Change we can believe in’ Obama, stand on this? Firmly nowhere. And this is where it is hugely sad, for a man whose candidacy is sold as giving ‘voice to the voiceless’ he seems to have lost his voice on those he innately should speak for. Damn those newspaper circulations!
