"Does Obama really transcend race, or does he simply prosper from it?"

This is a repost of a comment my friend Brad made on the The Flypaper Theory Blog. http://thepeskyfly.blogspot.com/ It was in relation to Barack Obama and his supporters. I am reposting this because I've been try to get Brad to write about this for several days because he has a take on Obama's candidacy I haven't really heard. Hopefully, he'll write the extended version of this soon and put it up on DKos. Thanks to the folks at The Flypaper Theory Blog for having the discussion about Obama.

"I can hardly blame the Obama worshipers, the media, and the National Party have been pumping this guy up since 04. I recall talking to Polar Donkey a few weeks after the November election, and we were all still sore about the re-election of GWB. I was at a bar and saw a young woman wearing an Obama 08 T-shirt. This was in November of 2004 mind you. There are no accidents, and one man's "destiny" is an Ad exec's mission statement. I admit as a Black man, "I personally hate the term African American "..I am more than a little conflicted here, after all the possibility that Americans would elect a Black man as President would say a lot about how far we as a nation have come. I myself felt a huge sense of pride in watching his rise to the national stage. The problem....well, the problem is, that Barak Obama is no messiah, no savior, and certainly not a measuring stick for racial progress. In fact, he might be the opposite. "He speaks so well" as Chris Rock would say.Now here's the part where I say something that you might not like....Consider this, does Obama really transcend race, or does he simply prosper from it? We all heard a few earfuls last year about how the possible election of Harold Ford Jr. was going to be a historic event, the first Black elected to the Senate from the south and that this would herald a "New Generation of Leadership" , no longer tied to the racially divisive politics of Memphis' past, no longer wrapped up in partisan gridlock, instead trying to bring unity and finding "real solutions" to our nation's problems. Now the blogs, print and broadcast media, the local, state and National party all played up those things...and yet the fact that there was ANOTHER black candidate for senate in the south was ignored, Erik Flemming was the Democratic nominee for Senate in 2006, running against Mississippi's favorite racist Trent Lott. Oddly enough no hype at all.Or how about Daryl Jones ,"not the bass player on Dream of the Blue Turtles" who was running to become Florida's first Black Lt Governor? He was the nominee for Governor in 2002. Where was all the hype here?Or what about Denise Majette , the first black and the first woman nominated for Senate in 2004? She lost, but was running for State School Superintendent of Georgia. in 2006.Barbara Sykes-Democrat , was running for Ohio State Auditor in a potentially historic race, never heard of her...BTW hers was the only loss the Ohio Dems had in 2006.Now I apologize for being so longwinded, but now I have to ask, what makes Obama and Ford so special, what is so different about them as opposed to the names I listed? Why are some Blacks running for office given a spotlight and others in equally historic races ignored. What do Obama and Ford have in common?..besides donors and policies..that is. Well, let's be honest here, these two appeal to a byproduct of racist sterotypes. In other words, many "Not all...relax" whites in middle america view blacks.
In other words, many "Not all...relax" whites in middle America view blacks via a "Good ones/Bad ones" lens with very little in between. So Blacks are either Cliff and Claire Huxtable from the Cosby show or Chris Partlow and Snoop Pearson from The Wire. Obama and Ford make white audiences feel comfortable and safe, he's not like those "other blacks". They share middle class values and avoid talking about subjects that make middle America uncomfortable...like the Jena 6 just to name one.Obama is the new and vastly improved model, but he is simply one of a long list off false messiahs Black and White, who serve as a distraction to the plight of most Blacks in America. After all isn't Obama's success proof that Racism is a thing of the past?...LOL.The corp’s have decided to have a black emissary, who can sell their message to the American people as Hope.
Obama has out Clintoned Clinton."