I found this article about Sen. Obama...

Over at Illinoize courtesy of John Rueberry who is the blogmaster at Marathon Pundit. It talks about the recent news that Sen. Obama will consider a run for the presidency in 2008.

Rueberry notes this from the article from The American Thinker...

Newsweek, not to be outdone, graces its cover with a picture of Democratic Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. now running for the open senate seat being vacated by Bill Frist in Tennessee. Newsweek tells us these Democrats (Ford, as an example) are "not your daddy’s Democrats."

Well, then, what of Republican Michael Steele involved in a close race for the open senate seat in Maryland? Or Lynn Swann, running as a Republican for Governor of Pennsylvania? Or Ken Blackwell, running as a Republican candidate for Governor in Ohio? One might say, if one had any interest in these candidates (or their party), that with three black candidates running statewide, this was not your "daddy’s Republicans" either.

It is far more likely you will see a national news story about the Democratic candidate for Governor in Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, also an African American, than about Blackwell or Swann this year.

Why are the Democratic African American candidates of so much greater interest to the national media than the Republican African American candidates running state wide this year? Silly question, of course.

I've mentioned many times here that there are other blacks running statewide around the country for some important offices such as governor or a senate seat. I've really wanted to cover the campaigns of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele for the Maryland US Senate seat and J. Kenneth Blackwell for governor of Ohio. This could prove to be a historic year for blacks in this country but it may get neglected and the author of this article Richard Baehr says why...

Party label is really all that matters in terms of where to shine the spotlight. And for partisans of the left or the Democratic Party (increasingly the same thing), keeping African American voters on their side of the ledger is of paramount importance. Black voters account for as much as 20% of the national Democratic Party vote. If they started seeing Republican candidates, black or white, as real alternatives, the Democrats’ chance of achieving national majority party status would be doomed. No Democrat has scored above 51% of the popular vote in a Presidential election since1964. And only Jimmy Carter exceeded 50% (barely) in 1976, before registering an all-time low percentage of the popular vote for an incumbent in 1980.

Now the next part of this article talks about Obama's record before he became a US Senator having graduated from the Illinois State Senate. Let me first start by talking about how he got elected in the first place...

In 2004, then-State Senator Obama trailed badly in third place just weeks before the Democratic primary for the open Illinois US Senate seat being vacated by Peter Fitzgerald. The leader was investment banker Blair Hull, who had spent about $40 million on an ad campaign that got him name recognition and a big lead in the polls.

Then the Chicago Tribune peeked into his bedroom, and revealed that he was an alleged wife beater. Hull’s campaign collapsed and most of his support swung to Obama, who was a poorly funded candidate going nowhere until the Tribune story destroyed Hull’s candidacy.

Next, the Tribune released supposedly sealed divorce documents concerning Republican nominee Jack Ryan, revealing he was a bit too kinky in his sexual tastes for his former wife. Ryan pulled out of the race, and the Illinois Republican Party, true to its decade long death wish, nominated Alan Keyes to oppose Obama. Suddenly, the unknown State Senator was now US Senator Obama with a smashing 71% share of the vote.

Now 2004 is a reason why I have trouble with this election. That craziness with Jack Ryan is why I have trouble with Illinois state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka. But telling you why is not why I blog about this article now.

I run into another favorite of mine a black academic who has written a lot of black conservative (I could say that to a point it is common sense) literature...

Of course, Obama also got a boost from the Democratic National Committee which offered him a speech in prime time at the 2004 convention, that left network anchors gushing for this fresh face, and new talent. For the record, Obama is smart, charismatic, personable, and even a decent writer. Affirmative action may get you into Harvard, but will not get you to be an editor of the law review at Harvard Law School. There are many ways in which Obama would be a far more interesting candidate than many of his Senate peers. But as John McWhorter asks, would any of these attributes been enough to have gotten Obama where he is today, were he not
black?

There's one other thing I'd like to pull from this article. It is certainly something to something to consider...

The media’s love affair with Obama has several dimensions. It is, to begin, the predictable white liberal guilt, gushing out to support a black candidate (so long as the candidate is a Democrat) thereby demonstrating one’s “decency” and “humanity”. But in the case of Obama, it might also be pragmatic; he might be the Democrat with the best chance to win.

Hmm, what do you think? Is the push of Barack Obama for the Presidency about white guilt or is he genuinely qualified to run for the presidency?

I'll start by saying that he doesn't have the qualifications. He can speak well for sure but can he lead people. Does he have "executive experience"? Can he make a difference other than speaking to an issue or indeed can he bring about changes or policies?

As far as I'm concerned he hasn't answered those questions. Right now he's just a rock star, but for now not much different than another man without "executive experience", Sen. John Kerry. The only difference between Sen. Kerry and Sen. Obama is that Obama speaks well and can indeed get the crowd's attention. Some will claim (or perhaps have complained) that there isn't much to his record since his state senate days. And I guess if Obama chooses to run for the presidency his opposition will have some digging to do.

They might find something. When Alan Keyes came to Illinois to run for the Senate he used Obama's votes on abortion. One of Keyes' pet issues was abortion as he is very much pro-life. Could someone like Sen. Hillary Clinton use that against her junior colleague from Illinois. She figures in this article too, so please have a read.