Blacks Forming a Rock-Solid Bloc Behind Obama

A growing optimism, albeit one tempered by caution, could be sensed when Sen. Barack Obama spoke at a Congressional Black Caucus dinner. He led Sen. John McCain 95 percent to 2 among blacks in a recent poll. (By Hamil R. Harris -- The Washington Post)
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"I would tell him, 'Stop watching TV news,' " Bailey said. "I told him, 'Try to relax.' I'd say, 'Breathe, Otha. Just breathe.' "

It is hard to imagine a demographic group with more emotional energy invested in a candidate than black voters have in Obama.

In the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, Obama leads McCain 95 percent to 2 percent among African Americans, a margin which, if it holds, would be a larger advantage than that achieved by any Democrat dating back to the first presidential network exit polls in 1972. Over that time, Republicans have averaged 12 percent support among African Americans.

And Obama's candidacy is the dominant topic on black talk radio and in churches, barber shops and beauty parlors.

"All we talk about is Obama," said Julie Griffith, the chief executive of a Houston public relations firm who attended a recent convention of black MBAs in Washington. "We talk about the campaign. We talk about Palin. We talk about a possible assassination attempt. We can talk about Obama all day."

Since early this year, when Obama's victory in the Iowa caucuses made his candidacy appear viable, African Americans have tamped down intra-group disputes and debate.

Other than some caustic comments by Jackson -- for which Jackson quickly apologized -- Obama has been the target of little criticism from within the black community, from politicians, activists or ordinary voters.

That has not always been true in past elections. During the 1988 presidential campaign, there was intense debate in the black community over whether Jackson should disavow support from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. This year, there was only muted criticism when Obama distanced himself from his controversial preacher, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.

When Leutisha Stills, who writes under the name the Christian Progressive Liberal, criticizes Obama on the black-oriented Web site Jack & Jill Politics, she is virtually shouted down, according to Baratunde Thurston, who co-developed the site. Television host and author Tavis Smiley got similar treatment when he criticized Obama for not showing up for Smiley's State of the Black Union event in New Orleans earlier this year.

When several black protesters heckled Obama during an appearance in St. Petersburg, Fla., asking what has he had done for the black community, many African Americans expressed outrage -- toward the hecklers.

"We can be black all day" after the election, said Griffith, the Houston executive. "We've got to get there first. Obama's not about black issues. He's the people's president. We are going to do what we're going to do. If some black people aren't with that, I say to hell with them."

At a campaign strategies workshop during the Black Caucus convention, Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., (D-Ill.) noted that in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses early this year, the Obama campaign did not become involved with protests over the Jena 6, a group of black men facing harsh criminal charges stemming from a schoolyard brawl in a small Louisiana town.

"Michael Baisden and Tom [Joyner] and Tavis [Smiley] could talk about Jena all they want," Jackson said, referring to radio and TV personalities who had pushed for large protest marches for the embattled men. "But Jena didn't have anything to do with winning . . . what?"

"Iowa!" the audience roared back, without any dissent.

"Historically, discipline has not be a factor in African American national campaigns," Jackson said in an interview. "They've been free-for-alls."

Staff writer Darryl Fears contributed to this report.