How is Obama's "Blackness" Influencing the Election ?

I have to admit, I have been following this year's primaries more closely than I have followed anything else in my life. With this long-lasting and bitter campaign season, everybody seems to have an opinion. So far, most of the people have remained engaged and this demonstrates good democratic process. I cannot help assessing the candidates based on my observations. I will try to provide a glimpse of my feelings. It now seems that Obama will easily win the nomination of the Democratic Party. However, in my attempt to evaluate the candidates, the hardest point for me to define was the level of "blackness" that Obama represents, and I will show you why I felt that way. I know it is a sensitive issue. However, since I am neither black nor white, I took the liberty to express my opinion. This is entirely my own opinion and is not an attempt to undermine anybody's qualification, efforts or abilities.

Why Obama and Hillary are similar ?

1. Obama has charisma, but so does Hillary.
2. Both of them have great institutional background. Therefore, I will not even dwell on that.

Why Obama and Hillary are different ?

1. Both of them are good speakers and they deliver great speeches; but I don't know if it is me only, I find him too much of a preacher. My only concern is : he is talking the talk, but will he walk the walk ? Hillary, on the other hand, I feel can connect to the audience much better. She can engage them into a conversation, which is lacking in Obama.
2. Throughout the campaign, Obama has been boasting of his track record : he got it right 100% of the time........that is with the decision to go to war in Iraq. But that is only 1 out of 1 decision that he made. The job responsibility that lies with the presidency is not about what he'll do, what he has done. To me, he is still inexperienced. One patient of mine (obviously, an Obama Supporter) that I was talking to, made an argument that Obama is of the same age as Bill Clinton was when he was running for the Presidency. But the fact is that Clinton was a 2 term Governor of Arkansas by then. Obama got elected to be a junior senator only in 1997. At the most he has taken a look at issues with smaller picture. I still believe he is not ready to take on any challenge at a national level. But when I consider Hillary, she had fair share of mistakes and that is what I call experience; you make mistakes and learn from that. Obama group then might say, well, he will have people to help him out. The point is if we are talking about help, Hillary has Bill on her side. Why not get twice the service (one sitting president and an ex-president working together) ?

Obama's Advantage :

1. He was raised by a single parent since his father had left them when he was only 4 years old. Many voters can identify with that.
2. He has been an inspiration for the Afro-American group because of his ancestral origin : He has been able to generate hope that yes, we can also do this if we work hard enough. He has elevated their confidence level in that sense. However, I would like to point out that he ends up getting advantage because of some reasons that I view are problematic.

Obama's Undue Advantage :

1. Even with his origin, he was raised by an educated white female ....he represents her values. Most Afro-Americans do not have that background or same enlightened environment (which may not be by choice) to bring their dreams to reality. However, they have boiled it down to the skin color, and that is exactly what is wrong with this scenario. Obama gets their support because of his color without really having to go through "their" (the true black) hardship. So, in that sense to me he is not black enough. On the other hand, among the Caucasians, there are so many equally qualified, if not more aspiring politicians who cannot make it that big that soon because they are just a few among so many of "their" (the Caucasian) kind. So, in that sense Obama again gets the upper hand because he is black enough to get the attention. He does not have to face competition. Since race is such a sensitive issue, nobody has the courage to talk about it. We haven't forgotten that Bill Clinton's touching the subject before the North Carolina primary brought a disastrous loss for Hillary.
2. Also, Obama is young and has appeal to the younger voters. Hillary, on the other hand, is a 50 year old woman. Unfortunately, to many she won't have the same degree of appeal. The younger voters can relate to Obama more. Experience really doesn't matter to this group of inexperienced voters.

Something else bothers me more than anything else :

1. We have been hearing so much about campaign reform. We always monitor the candidates to see where the contribution is coming from. Somewhere along the way, Obama has crossed the thin line. Ultimately, it is all about money. It is ridiculous how this whole process shows ignorance about the reality of life. So many people live in poverty in the US itself. Also, the candidates are spending only on the primaries the whole year's budget that would have been allocated by several countries combined !
2. Obama has been announcing that his campaign does not accept money from the lobbyists. But, when you go to "fact check.org", you'll see...........Obama does not get the money from the lobbyists, but takes it from their spouses ! Hillary has also created trouble for herself due to her habitual exaggeration of the facts.
3. Then comes the money factor. By the time they went into the PA primary, I had already received calls from Obama Campaign's grass root level workers, and on two occasions they mailed flyers along with an 8 minute long DVD.
4. I am beginning to feel sorry for this lady, Hillary, that is. I know she is a millionaire herself. She had at least $23 m which she could not use before the Nov. election going into the PA primary. So, it was an uphill battle for her going into that. Hillary had to loan herself millions of dollars to keep the campaign going. For the first time in my life, I really can show pity to a millionaire ! It is so pathetic !
5. Another point that bothers me is that we all know that Rev. "Wright" has done Obama "wrong". I felt that Obama took too long to react and distance himself from a controversial, hate-monger priest like Rev. Wright. Obama didn't seem strong enough to me as a leader. He seemed unprepared to make tough decisions, which is a must for a Commander in Chief. As Glenn Beck wrote on cnn.com : "I'm glad Obama has come to the same conclusion that Wright's critics came too long ago. I just wonder why it took me two minutes and him two decades."

Then again, even after such pressure from the political leaders to bow out, Hillary has been holding strong. This morning I watched her addressing the crowd in West Virginia. She seemed very composed, ready to face the challenges. I liked that. She also has the support from the blue-collar votes. She is a winner in the big states. Obama, mind you, has so far received more popular votes. As of today, he is leading Hillary in the Superdelegate count also. So, both have strength in their candidacy. I wish both could win, but in a race there can only be one winner.

I desperately want the country to make the best possible decision and move forward. I wish they had somebody else than a clone of Bush representing the Republican Party. Given the situation, I think the Democrats will win in November, but I think both Obama and Hillary should be on the same ticket to benefit from each other's strength. I guess, only time will tell. In any case, Democrats cannot lose focus. They need to restore the party's unity.

Note :

The pictures of the flyers and DVD were taken with my webcam. Therefore, the quality of the images is not the greatest.