Obama on race: a general election strategy

Barack Obama's bid for the presidency attracted plaudits for "transcending race" because he ignored it altogether. As soon as he talked about it, he was seen to have fumbled. The best quote came from a poli sci prof: "Obama showed he's the type of president Americans would like to have, but not the type of president Americans tend to elect."

But I still think the speech was savvy, for the primary election and most of all for the general election.

First of all, Obama shored up his black constituency. The videos of Wright's inflammatory remarks is only inflammatory to whites who are used to staid church services. To blacks the really inflammatory thing is making the comments by Wright into something somehow offensive and unpatriotic. It seems to me that they are now more solidly behind Obama than they ever were, to the point of being willing to stay home in November if Hillary wins, seriously hurting the party's chances. This strikes fear in the hearts of superdelegates and helps Obama's case. However, it might be balanced out by Hillary's strong support threatening the same.

So the real virtue of the speech is for a general election strategy. With the passage of time, and because of the speech, the Wright imbroglio will blow over. It won't be an issue in November. Thus, Obama's speech serves a crucial purpose in his presidential bid when you take the long-range view. Get the race stuff over with now. Confront it head on, and then move on. If the pundits think it's bad politically in the short-term, who cares? They're not voting. If this stuff had come out a week before the election, then it would be everything. But now it's something that can be dealt with and gotten beyond.

It requires, however, that Obama shut up about race from now on, and go back to "transcending it."

In other news, Howard Dean says he wants the bloodletting over with and a nominee decided by July 1.