Obama Success Rewrites the Rules on Race

In the fact of Barack's campaign, some already see a victory
By Zach Samalin,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 29, 2007 9:30 AM CST
Obama Success Rewrites the Rules on Race
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at a campaign event Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007, in Mason City, Iowa. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)   (Associated Press)

With only three black US Senators and two black governors elected since Reconstruction, and the vast majority of black politicians representing predominately black communities, veteran race watchers anticipated another decade before a candidate of color could be a top contender for the Oval Office. But that was before Obama. The Washington Post examines how Barack's unprecedented crossover success has changed thinking among black political leaders.

Jesse Jackson, who carried 13 primaries and caucuses when he ran in 1988, says Obama's success reveals more about white Americans than black: "We have not changed, African Americans. White America is changing, in many ways. There is, in a real sense today, a new generation of possibilities." (More Barack Obama stories.)

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