Barack Obama is currently running neck-and-neck with Hillary Clinton . . . among black voters.  His caution on issues like race and justice is understandable (white voters like to believe that racial equality is a done deal in America).  Obama may have figured that black voters would support him simply because Hillary is white, but that reasoning hasn’t worked, so the first African American presidential candidate with a fighting chance of success is reaching out to the black community . . . and Jena is part of his pitch.

This suggests that the Obama camp is making two assumptions: (1) their candidate must address the issues raised by the Jena case forthrightly if he hopes to win the hearts of black voters; and (2) that doing so won’t hurt him with the white voters currently supporting his candidacy. 

I suspect the Obama people are right on both counts.

I was particularly gratified by a statement at the very end of this piece in the Chicago Tribune: “I’m tired of reading about Jena.  I’m tired of reading about nooses and I’m tired of hearing about a Justice Department that doesn’t understand justice.”

Barack Obama may be the only presidential candidate (in either party) capable of inspiring passion in his followers.  To win, he needs to feed that passion.

Obama brings his message to Harlem

By Mike Dorning | Tribune national correspondent

November 30, 2007

NEW YORK – Sen. Barack Obama invoked Rev. Martin Luther King’s “fierce urgency of now” as he made his first visit as a presidential candidate to America’s most famous black neighborhood, Harlem, venturing within sight of Bill Clinton’s office.

“I want to stand up for those who still hunger for opportunity, who still thirst for justice,” Obama said Thursday night. “I don’t want to wake up and find out four years from now that we missed this opportunity. … We cannot wait.” The last quote is a reference to King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

Most of the local African-American political leadership, led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charles Rangel, have lined up behind New York’s favorite daughter, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

But long lines of overwhelmingly black supporters waited outside for a $50-a-seat fundraiser at the Apollo Theater, a cultural institution. The Harlem Gospel Choir sang the gospel standard “Oh Happy Day” while waiting for the candidate.

“How does it feel to be part of history?” asked scholar Cornel West, bringing the crowd to its feet.

“You’d be real embarrassed if he won and we wasn’t down,” said comedian Chris Rock, introducing Obama. “I had that white lady. What was I thinking? What was I thinking?”

Obama also spoke about the Jena 6 case of black teens charged in a racially tinged incident in Louisiana.

“I’m tired of reading about Jena,’ he said. “I’m tired of reading about nooses and I’m tired of hearing about a Justice Department that doesn’t understand justice.”

Obama used the visit to pay homage to Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the few prominent local leaders who has not yet chosen whom to back, though he said he will “very shortly.”

The two dined on corn bread, coconut shrimp and fried chicken wings at Sylvia’s, a famous soul food restaurant.

Speaking later with reporters, Sharpton said, ‘Tonight he came to Harlem, and he came with a message that Harlem likes [and] wants someone to discuss at a presidential level, that is hate crimes.”