Black And White

“It’s OK to vote for Obama because he’s black” is an article that discusses exactly what the title suggests: how Obama’s blackness makes him the best candidate. It was written by Gary Kamiya and can be found at Salon.com, an online magazine of books, arts and ideas. Kamiya talks about the qualities of Obama that make him a good candidate. “He is intelligent, charismatic, and competent”, but “it’s his blackness that seals the deal” (Kamiya par. 2). The author states that almost all of Obama’s supporters are voting for him because he is black. The author uses appeal to emotion and reason most strongly through out the essay, and also uses appeal through credibility and authority to provide a strong argument in favor of his views.

Kamiya does a great job at appealing to emotion. He spends several paragraphs discussing the counter-argument to his ideas, rather than only sticking to his views. He includes views of Obama supporters and non-supporters, and there thoughts on the legitimacy of voting for Obama because of race. Kamiya states, “that many whites vehemently deny that Obama’s race played any role at all in their decision to support him” (par. 4). He agrees that this is an understandable reaction because it’s his qualities and achievements that should be important. Kamiya also includes some conservative views on the situation. According to Kamiya, “some conservatives have blasted the racial component of Obama’s white support, seeing it as a kind of affirmative action for undeserving minorities” (par. 9). Kamiya quotes a right wing site that denounced Democrats for “handing a вЂ?completely unqualified’ candidate the nomination вЂ?because he’s part of a minorityвЂ™Ð²Ð‚Ñœ (par. 9). After covering all sides of the argument, Kamiya states that “all of these criticisms, whether they acknowledge it or not, are based on the fact that Obama’s blackness is his indispensable asset” (par. 10). Making this statement, after discussing the differing views on the topic, provide for an emotional basis on the topic. Another strategy Kamiya uses it appealing to the audience through credibility. He uses Hillary Clinton’s attack on Obama as a false messiah to indirectly challenge Democrats who are basing their votes off race. This shows that even Clinton knows that threat she faces due to Obama’s race. He also includes thoughts from Bill Kristol who, as he describes, is a “neocon pundit, whose unerringly wrong track record on Iraq earned him a sport on the New York Times’ Op-Ed page”