Cream of the (Share)Crop?

This week, eight Democratic presidential hopefuls took the stage at South Carolina State University to “debate” the issues. While most of the debate followed the current trend of simultaneous press conferences, rather than engaged debate, there were a number of items that are noteworthy to students of race and political communication.

Latino candidate Bill Richardson answered charges that he delayed calling for Attorney General Albert Gonzalez's resignation because he was a fellow Hispanic.

Long-time Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd happened to bring up his long lineage of public service, which includes his father who was prosecutor at the Nuremburg trials and helped to create the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department in the 1940s (with much of that work taking place in South Carolina).

Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Delaware Senator Joe Biden brought up our nation's comparative disinterest in Africa, among all the nations in whose political affairs we seek to insert ourselves into.

Senator Hillary Clinton first referred to Senator Obama as simply, "Barack," raising eyebrows until Obama addressed the Senator as “Hillary.” Others later joined in on the first-name-basis address to their colleagues.

In what was perhaps the night’s one moment of humor, Joe Biden, when asked if, as President, he could be trusted to control is penchant for extreme verbosity (his recent comments about Barack Obama looming under the surface of the question) replied simply, "Yes."

And, somewhere between the debate stage and the debate after party at South Carolina State University, Senator Obama picked up a not-so-slight hint of Southern (some would say, black) vernacular.

And so, Thursday night's first debate between the Democratic Party presidential candidates was quite tame when it comes to issues of race (not that we expected the candidates to be hurling racial epithets at each other or anything).

Nevertheless, the debate is our topic this week not so much for what didn't happen, but for the few things that did, and, more importantly, their connections to this week's episode of Boston Legal, where the racial scenario that played out concluded with at least one very apropos lesson – one that we've repeated over in over following the shenanigans of Don Imus, Joe Biden, Michael Richards, and others.

Here's how it went (Boston Legal, that is). A new prospective litigator shows up to be interviewed by Denny Crane, the firm's eccentric lead partner. The man is African American. When he returns to the other partners who recruited him and explained that he did not think Denny liked him, Crane himself walks into the office – dispelling the candidate's thoughts by saying that he's the right man for the job. He's smart, good looking, and…articulate. The candidate asks Denny what he meant by that, to which Denny replied "what Joe Biden meant when he said it…the way they mean it when they say Condoleeza Rice is so articulate." When pressed further, Denny admits what he means is, "you don't sound black!" Denny of course doesn't realize why his comments were racist, even after his partners explain it to him. When Denny responded, "Well how do you say it?" another named partner at the firm – Shirley Schmidt – beats around the bush a bit and then says, "Well…Urban" – a euphemism for "black."

The job candidate subsequently calls a press conference and tells the world that the firm wants its black attorneys to sound white. Some of the partners in the firm decide it's time to finally excommunicate Denny. But Shirley has a different response in mind. Having apparently searched her own soul, she calls a press conference and delivers a scathing speech, saying that the real problem isn't the current incident between Denny and the prospective attorney, but the fact that like her law firm and all others (as well as the media and anyone else who does business with white clients), "we like our blacks like we like our coffee: black, with a little cream and sugar."

Is this also how we want Barack Obama? If so, how much cream? Enough to pacify the Denny Cranes amongst us, but not enough to alienate black leaders and voters who may already question his “authenticity” due to his heritage (he does not descend from African American slaves) and his racial composition (his mother was white).

And how much sugar? Do whites need to be “sweet talked” into embracing a black candidate? How long and in what ways?

As the months roll on, we’ll keep an eye on it. Wouldn’t want you all to get an unduly bitter cup!