The Tragedy of Barack Obama

Just a few short months ago Barack Obama stood on the verge of accomplishing what no man or woman before him had been able to. He was about to become the first African-American candidate for president from a major political party. Obama had transcended race to such an extent that the question of whether or not America was ready to elect a black president was seldom even asked. No, the question on people’s lips as this campaign began was:

Is Barack Obama black enough?

Remember that? It certainly seems like a long time ago now, doesn’t it?

Obama was too clean cut, too articulate, too suave, and too elite to really galvanize the black community behind him. That was the conventional wisdom. We soon learned that Barack was a better candidate than Jesse Jackson had ever been, and a better man than Al Sharpton ever would be. He had that special something, something more than just the beautiful speeches, something that made you not only like the guy but want to believe in him as well. He drew comparisons to John Kennedy while borrowing from Jay Z. He was black enough for the black community—and suave enough to win over the white community. He was so much more than just a “black candidate.”

This is no easy feat and, as we’ve seen, it is even harder to maintain than it is to achieve. But Barack Hussein Obama, a child of a mixed marriage who was raised by his white grandparents and dogged with a middle name that many conservatives now compare to Hitler, has been fighting this battle his whole life. Questions about whether he was black enough were nothing new to him. It was this fight, when he decided to get involved in politics on Chicago’s south side, which led Obama to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the Trinity United Church of Christ.

Barack Obama cannot tell you the truth—that he joined the church because he badly needed the “street cred” that came with it—but this is exactly what happened. Trinity is as much a part of Chicago city politics as the Catholic Church is for the Irish who have ruled Boston for generations. And with Trinity comes Wright.

Jeremiah Wright is a relic, a champion of victim politics whose position would in fact be weakened if a black man was able to rise to the highest office in this land. Al Sharpton threatens to close down NYC while Wright claims the government is responsible for unleashing the AIDS virus. These are the leaders who have not only failed the black community for decades but done far more harm than good along the way.

Barack Obama had a chance to change that, to install new leadership and bridge the gap between black and white in ways that Wright and Sharpton will never be able to understand. It is tragic that it all may be slipping away. Beyond the tragedy lies irony. He now faces the very real possibility of losing this nomination to Hillary Clinton, herself a caricature of victim politics. Obama has never tried to play the victim card, not in this race and not in his life, no matter how easy it would have been for him to do so. Now he is being beaten down by those who have made a living of it.