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Chicago
Gary Younge's "The Obama Effect" [Dec. 31] offers insight into the senator's cross-racial appeal and that of others of the constructed "new generation of black leadership." As Younge states, "race is...a performance," and Barack Obama and his cohorts have mastered the act to become viable candidates--that is, to appeal to whites. Their race must be presented not as a source of contention but as a symbol of hope. Obama reminded us of this in his victory speech in Iowa, when he reiterated this feel-good theme: his biography, beginning with a black Kenyan father and a white American mother, is possible only in America.
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