Obama: Fading to black?

For a presidential candidate who has refused to be pigeon-holed as the "black candidate," Sen. Barack Obama found himself fading in a staged battle for the hearts of black voters Thursday night.

Billed as the "All-American Presidential Forum," the televised debate brought the eight Democratic contenders to Howard University, one of the most prestigious schools in the network of historically black colleges.

The gathering of presidential hopefuls was also a prime time showcase for Tavis Smiley, a media celebrity, and his book, The Covenant with Black America, a New York Times best-selling collection of essays that offer solutions to a variety of problems plaguing impoverished minority communities.

It was the first time a panel of journalists of color, with a black moderator, posed the questions to the candidates.

Close ties shine throughIt was clear from the answers to the first questions that Obama's chief rival, Hillary Clinton, spoke with greater confidence on race issues, and in fact she brought many of the women in the audience to their feet when she addressed the alarming rate of HIV/AIDS infections in the black community.

"If HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 24 and 34, there would be an outrage in this country,'' she said.

What black woman hasn't uttered those same words at one time or another?

While it should have been Obama's night, Clinton's close ties to the African-American community shone through in her remarks, offering a boldness that frankly was missing from Obama's responses.

For example, when asked if racism is still an intractable issue of the day, Clinton acknowledged that progress had been made, pointing out that she shared the stage with an African-American and a Latino candidate.

"But there is so much to be done," she said. "For anyone to assert that race is not a problem in America is to deny the realities before our very eyes."

She also used a phrase from The Covenant, "the cradle to the superhighway," showing that she had at least picked up a book being touted as one of the most important for the African-American community in recent times.

Surprisingly, Obama continued a balancing act in which he points out the unfairness African Americans face in their daily lives but also criticizes the negative behaviors often found among the impoverished.....