South Carolina Caucuses

Well it looks like Barack Obama has won the South Carolina caucuses, and quite handily too. There was a lot of talk before this ballot that the black voters in South Carolina were going to play a big role in determining the winner of this contest, and also would set a tone for the rest of the race, in terms of race.

Hillary and Barack have been jockeying for the support of this minority group almost throughout their entire campaigns, and both see that support (rightly so) as vital to winning the Democratic nomination and the eventual election in November. Black women have supposedly had the toughest choice, as there are two groundbreaking candidates that they can both sympatize with.

Now, as a white male, I understand I may not be the best person to talk about these kinds of factors in terms of voting, as I obviously don't grasp what its like to be a black woman, but I hope and figure that more goes into the process than someone's skin color or gender when it comes time to choose the man or woman to lead the US out of the George W. Bush disaster and restore faith in the US around the world.

Just to make it straight, I personally think Barack Obama is the only person, man or woman, in the race that can do that.

This win in South Carolina today shows a lot of things. Namely, Barack Obama has the support of the black community, at least in this state, as he secured 80% of the votes from those considered African American and is also polling up to 20% higher nationally than Hillary among this group, last I saw. Another large point to make here is that he can also make in-roads with white, southern voters. This is big, because it means that even in the South, where racism still runs hot, a black man can secure the votes to take one more step to the Presidency. That is a big deal, and one I hope the rest of the people out there that base their vote on someone's color or heritage will listen to. The world is passing those by that still hold these types of prejudices, and the faster, the better.

Barack Obama means change, and today, we saw that change put into action. Only Super Tuesday remains in front of us, and in about 10 days, we're going to answer the question of whether a black man can actually be a viable candidate for the Presidency.