What Barack Obama and Michael Steele Have In Common Besides Race

For the past three months or so, hardly a political newscast goes by the doesn't talk about either the disintegration of the GOP or the emergence of Barack Obama, the young Illinois Senator who seems to be just shy of annointed as a "new black leader." While I have to admire Obama's PR team, I have begun to wonder why such a man has been viewed as the savior of the Democratic party and why he allows it.

Obama has been hailed as a "rock star" for the Democrats but he is still a freshman Senator from Illinois. As Ben Shapiro writes, Obama's main appeal is that he "understands" us. But

[w]ho is Barack Obama? He is a cipher running as a shaman. He has been in the Senate for two years. He has virtually no voting record; he has virtually no articulated positions. Ask his advocates, and they will describe him as "a breath of fresh air" -- but ask them about a single position he holds, and they will stare at you as though you are speaking in tongues. They will tell you, however, that Obama "understands" every position you hold. Clinton ran as "The Man from Hope." Obama runs as "The Man Who Understands ." As Obama puts it in his new book, "The Audacity of Hope," "It is at the heart of my moral code, and it is how I understand the Golden Rule -- not simply as a call to sympathy or charity, but as something more demanding, a call to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes."

Michael Steele is also being viewed by many in the GOP as a "rock star" on the rise, despite his being on the receiving end of a White House sandbagging regarding the RNC Chairmanship. Steele's presence on teh ballot in Maryland and widely acclaimed campaign for the Senate has vaulted him to the top of the pyramid among Conservatives. But there is also a constant focus on Steele's race. Like Obama, Steele is always labled as a "black republican" despite the fact that such things are not uncommon today, see Ken Blackwell and Lynn Swann, among others.

What is significant about both men is not their positions or partisan affiliation, but the fact that every time they are mentioned, they are noted as black. Of course, neither of them had any say in their genetics, but both have failed to put an end to the constant portrayal as black first and politicians second.

At a time when both men are acutely aware of the role of race in our society, neither have taken the time to correct the media. Obama is almost always referred to as the black Senator from Illinois, or a new black Democratic leader. Likewise, Steele cannot duck the black Republican label, nor does it appear as though he as made a signficant effort to do so. These men are among the top leaders in their party, rightly or wrongly, and yet both have allowed their respective parties to put their race first.

For this reason alone, both men do a disservice to America as a whole, by allowing, if not activly perpetuating, the concept that their race matters more then their politics. I don't agree with much of Obama's political positions, at least those that I know of. Similarly, I have much to agree with among Steele's position. But until they make sure the media, their PR teams, their supporters and detractors begin to think of them as a Democrat or a Republican first, they will not be seen as more than a symbol of what their parties are attempting to achieve among black voters.

Race matters in this country because we allow it to matter in a way that is detrimental to our country. When leaders like Obama and Steele allow others to use their race to define them, they allow race to matter and you can't move beyond race until you move beyond the belief that one's genetics define who they are.