President Obama? Will the U.S. elect a black man to the presidency?

It's impossible to deny the popularity of senator Barack Obama. He's been on a whirlwind book tour with his The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. A recent appearance at a book festival in Austin, Texas saw him selling a whopping 1,000 copies of said book, breaking a previous record set by President Bill Clinton. There has been a lot of talk about the possibility of Obama becoming a U.S. president, possibly the next president, with Obama himself saying he would consider a 2008 campaign.

In an article in the Washington Post, there is some speculation on whether or not he could make it in a presidential race. While I think the man should strike while he is clearly hot, I also do not think that this country would elect a black man to the presidency, and that is sad. Harold Ford Jr. couldn't even pull off a senate seat in the recent election in Tennessee, which would have made him the first black senator since the Reconstruction.

While I do not think Obama could successfully reclaim the presidency for the Democrats, I do think he would be the best candidate for vice president. I'd love to see a Clinton-Obama ticket on my ballot in 2008. And yes, I think the U.S. would elect a white woman president before a black man.

File under: Barack Obama election 2008 politics Hillary Clinton Tennessee sucks