Black conservatives look at Obama

I have talked to quite a few black conservatives lately . The irony is that as most black people are more conservative as the Democratic party likes to believe , the Republican party does not pursue them with reckless abandon . The following news article cites a rift between noted moderate to conservative black politicos .
The interesting story is that as most black folk wrongfully believe that most Republicans are prejudiced , that Senator McCain was defeated in 2000 in the south against Republican operatives largely by the the fact that he adopted a dark skin daughter .
When will racism go away , and when can we judge a candidate by his own merits instead of the racial dynamic ? The following is from the Fredrick Fromer AP report .
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams has never voted for a Democrat for president. That could change this year with Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee.
"I don't necessarily like his policies; I don't like much that he advocates, but for the first time in my life, history thrusts me to really seriously think about it," Williams said. "I can honestly say I have no idea who I'm going to pull that lever for in November. And to me, that's incredible."
Just as Obama has touched black Democratic voters, he has engendered conflicting emotions among black Republicans. They revel over the possibility of a black president but wrestle with the thought that Obama doesn't sit beside them ideologically.
"Among black conservatives," Williams said, "they tell me privately, it would be very hard to vote against him in November."



J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman who once was part of the GOP House leadership, said he's thinking of voting for Obama.
Watts said he's still a Republican, but he criticizes his party for neglecting the black community. Black Republicans, he said, have to concede that while they might not agree with Democrats on issues, at least that party reaches out to them.
"And Obama highlights that even more," Watts said, adding that he expects Obama to take on issues such as poverty and urban policy. "Republicans often seem indifferent to those things."

Writer and actor Joseph C. Phillips got so excited about Obama earlier this year that he started calling himself an "Obamacan" — Obama Republican. Phillips, who appeared on "The Cosby Show" as
Denise Huxtable's husband, Navy Lt. Martin Kendall, said he has wavered since, but he is still thinking about voting for Obama.
"I am wondering if this is the time where we get over the hump, where an Obama victory will finally, at long last, move us beyond some of the old conversations about race," Phillips said. "That
possibly, just possibly, this great country can finally be forgiven for its original sin, or find some absolution."
Michael Steele, the Republican former lieutenant governor of Maryland who lost a Senate race there in 2006, said he is proud of Obama as a black man, but that "come November, I will do
everything in my power to defeat him." Electing Obama, he said, would not automatically solve the woes of the black community.
Moderate Republican Edward Brooke, who blazed his own trail in Massachusetts in 1966 as the first black popularly elected U.S. senator, said he is "extremely proud " to see Obama ascend.This is the most important election in our history," Brooke said. "And with the world in the condition that it is, I think we've got to get the best person we can get."