Most black voters, like most other voters, don't vote exclusively on the basis of skin color, but on basis of what the candidate stands for. Obama's level of blackness is subjective and irrelevant. What matters is can he make a persuasive case to black voters that he's the best person for the job? All indications say he can.

First, in the latest Post-ABC News poll from February, Obama is leading Clinton 44 to 33 percent among black voters.

Second, in the Illinois Senate primary, Obama got 80-90% of the African-American vote. He has proven that once he has established who he is and what he is for that he can appeal to black voters. Even the polls that show him only slightly ahead of Hillary will probably shift more towards Obama.

Illinois Political Insider Rich Miller wrote:
"Ten months before the March 2004 U.S. Senate primary (about where we are now before the Iowa caucuses), Obama's own polls showed him winning just 34 percent of the black vote. About a month before the primary, African-American voters began ''breaking'' in large numbers to his candidacy. As they began focusing on the campaign, black voters saw he was viable, liked his message and a significant percentage finally realized he was African American. He ended up winning just about all their votes.
This same pattern has been repeated time and time again during the past 25 years here. Harold Washington didn't start off his campaign with the majority of black support against a white female with a huge war chest and the powers of patronage and incumbency, but he certainly ended that way. Like Byrne, Hillary Clinton is almost universally known and has a strong record of backing issues important to many Democratic African-American voters. Obama is far less known. It's perfectly natural that, right now, many black voters are siding with Clinton. But, if Obama's candidacy remains viable through early next year, I'd bet that the vast majority of African-American voters will end up with him."Chicago Sun-Times