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Obama showing signs of fatigue

Indianapolis: Barack Obama was showing signs of campaign fatigue. Sitting on a picnic bench in a park on Pagoda Street, Indianapolis, in discussion with a group of 30 supporters, he told a story about the “modest” background of himself and his wife, Michelle. And 10 minutes later, seemingly having forgotten, he told them it all again.

It is hardly surprising, given that he has been on the road almost non-stop since Christmas, battling Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

In recent weeks, he has often seemed absent-minded, forgetting the names of the towns he is in.

Tiredness is the least of Mr. Obama’s problems.

After a relatively smooth and well-planned march towards the Oval Office, his campaign is facing its greatest crisis. “He is in the middle of a **** storm,” one of the journalists travelling with him said.

Race, as an issue, is now more potent and dangerous than at any other stage in the campaign.

Public utterances since the weekend by his former Chicago pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright — including a claim that the U.S. government developed the AIDS virus to infect black people — have called into question Mr. Obama’s judgment.

Mr. Obama, having failed to renounce Reverend Wright in a speech in Philadelphia in March, finally cut ties with his former mentor on Tuesday but it may be too late for next week’s Indiana primary.

It is Mr. Obama’s misfortune that race has come to the fore when he is fighting a primary in Indiana, which was a northern stronghold of the Ku Klux Klan.

Mr. Obama’s supporters fear that his denunciation of Reverend Wright will not be enough. Stacee Nichols, a 33-year-old African-American, said: “The State has a horrible history. There is still racism but it is more subtle now.” Her husband, Willie, 37, who works for Ford Motor, said he had heard colleagues, black and white, questioning why Mr. Obama had remained in Reverend Wright’s church for 20 years.

Another Obama supporter, Greg Snider, 44, who works for a concrete company, said people had told him in private they would vote on race grounds.

“If people would listen to the senator, they would get beyond it. But some people’s minds are closed. I think it will hurt him.”

A nationwide poll in The New York Times on Thursday showed the damage: 51 per cent of Democratic primary voters say they expect him to win their party’s nomination, down from 69 per cent a month ago.

Mr. Obama had hoped that Indiana, where he holds a slim lead over Ms. Clinton, might bring closure to the campaign, describing it as the “tie-breaker.”

If Ms. Clinton did lose Indiana and North Carolina — both are being held on the same day — the pressure on her to quit would be enormous. Polls show the two as even in Indiana.

The Clinton campaign has succeeded in boxing him in as the black candidate, rather than one who transcends race, as he prefers to see himself.

The Clinton camp denies adopting the tactic though it has been apparent since January.

Even in North Carolina, which has a large African-American population and where Mr. Obama held a 25-point lead last week, he is suffering.

A poll for WRAL TV cut his lead to seven points. — ©Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

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