Bomani Armah on Barack Obama

Bomani Armah is a Washington D.C. poet, hip-hop artist, satirist and educator. His article Okay, Barack. Now Show' Em Your White Side, in the Washington Post Outlook section, is must reading for those trying to get a grip on Obama's tumultuous week with the revelations about Rev. Jeremiah Wright's inflammatory remarks which quite predictably the mainstream media, particularly the right-wingers on cable television have obsessed over. Among Armah's more interesting observations, check out the following:

But Bomani, we need to appeal to the historic significance of his being black, or try to make him non-racial!

Not so. In all honesty, the more I watch Obama talk and interact with people, the more I'm convinced he's a "soul brother." He walks with a rhythm, slaps skin when he shakes hands with even the most white-bread politician and speaks in a cadence that would make Rudy Ray Moore proud. Even though these attributes are part of the reason he has garnered support among important blocs of voters -- African Americans, young people, liberals, antiwar activists and the highly educated -- they will also serve to galvanize a voting bloc that hasn't had to come together before in the history of our country. That is the all-important "Aw Hell No!" voting bloc.

That's right. The "Aw Hell No!" political bloc has lain dormant for 200 years, waiting for a moment to flex its political muscle. Don't forget that this country is more than 60 percent white and that less than half the population votes. This means that a lot of white people could care less about the political process. They believe that national politics are really out of their reach and that it's not worth taking time off from work to participate. As long as the federal government stays within some superficial norms, they aren't worried about who does what in November. That is, until a black man (and to be honest, a woman) got a real chance to become president.