Black candidate's burden
WHY SHOULD Barack Obama be more outraged than anyone else over racist comments made by Don Imus?
It's a striking phenomenon of the 2008 presidential campaign: The only candidate with a black parent is the candidate who must buff up his anti racism resume.
After Imus referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed ho's," all the presidential candidates, Republican and Democrat, denounced the insult. Then, they bobbed, weaved, and ducked when it came to answering the question of whether Imus should be fired.
Several Republicans, including former governor Mitt Romney, Senator John McCain of Arizona, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee , said they would appear on the show again. Some Democrats, including Obama, former senator John Edwards of North Carolina, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, and Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, initially stopped short of saying they wouldn't appear on the program.
A week after Imus made the offensive comment, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York used her campaign website to ask supporters to send a message of "Respect for Rutgers." Even though leading women's groups were calling for Imus to be fired, Clinton did not. A Clinton campaign spokesman did say the senator wouldn't appear on the Imus show if invited, a possibility that seemed unlikely. Clinton was a frequent target of the radio show, and the host referred to her as "Satan."
But the senator from Illinois took the most heat for his ambivalence and eventually called for Imus's ouster.
Obama denounced the Imus comment on April 9, ahead of others, calling it "divisive, hurtful, and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds." But that wasn't enough. Two days later, the Globe published a page 1 story under the headline, "Obama's silence on Imus alarms some blacks." The article quoted two college professors directly on that point. "This was so easy, and his unwillingness to touch it tells me this is going to be his third rail, and race never goes away in politics," said Melissa Harris Lacewell of Princeton University.
That afternoon, in an interview with ABC News, Obama said Imus should lose his job. He also said he would never again appear on the show. As events unfolded, MSNBC dropped its simulcast of the Imus program later that day; the next day, CBS dropped the radio program.
When race is the issue, the high expectations for Obama are obviously connected to his heritage. He is the American-born son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas. His family roots set him apart from African-Americans descended from slaves. In the words of author Debra J. Dickerson: "Obama isn't black."
David Axelrod, Obama's chief political advisor, acknowledges the challenge of this perspective: "There will be people who set up special tests," said Axelrod. "He'll be judged by a lifetime of commitment. That commitment is clear by the choices he made and the things that he's done."
From the campaign's perspective, Obama's resume more than establishes his bona fides in the black community. Over a long, varied career, Obama worked as a community organizer and a civil rights lawyer. As a state legislator, he introduced proposals to prohibit racial profiling.
"I don't think for one moment that he is going to forget the history of his people because he has a white mother and an African father. I don't buy that crock about whether he's black," said Joyce Ferriabough, a Boston-based Democratic consultant who is African-American. "You don't have to scream and yell and pound the desk and jump up and down to show your blackness."
But Obama is being pushed to speak up more loudly. There was pressure earlier this year, after Biden described Obama as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." Obama's first reaction was restrained; he called Biden's published remarks "unfortunate." After Sharpton responded more forcefully, Obama came back with a stronger condemnation.
Maybe it's understandable if voters expect a black man to react most passionately to racial injustice. It makes sense for African-Americans to look to Obama to be a civil-rights advocate, just as women expect Clinton to be an advocate for them. Yet, that's part of the problem in America, isn't it? We see special interests, where we should see common ground for outrage.
Expecting Obama to confront racism is one thing. Giving white candidates more wiggle room is something else: racism.
Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com. 
