Obamania II: New Hampshire

Today the New Hampshire primary is set to provide a sequel to Obamania. Every significant poll shows him beating Hilary, some as much as 13 points, according to the USA Today/Gallup. For most pundits the only question left is Obama's margin of victory.

As a result Hilary over the past few days has...

• went diary of a mad white woman at the ABS News/Facebook debate.

• attempted to thaw her ice queen image and cried yesterday.

• went negative...on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.!

Meanwhile Obamania gains momentum. One implicit endorsement came yesterday from former Sec. of State Colin Powell who praised Obama on Tavis Smiley, who commented:

"This argument about him not being black enough, that's just absolute nonsense. He is putting himself forward not as a black man but as an American man who wants to be president of the United States of America. We should see Barack as a candidate for president who happens to be black, and not a black candidate for president."

At the beginning of 2007 Obama endured an extraordinary black authenticity test. All African-Americans face it at one moment or another. Obama's was acute because he existed at the crossroads of bi-racial identity and presidential politics.

Today the "Is Barack black enough?" question is irrelevant. It is an outdated inquiry in 21st century America. The burning dilemma is whether black America can shed its crippling racial paranoia? The euphoria met with Obama's victory in Iowa from Harlem to South Central and across black communities large and small demonstrates a willingness to shed that cynicism. We want to believe.

Yet black America has been here before. Anchored by our deep and justifiable reservations (Katrina, Jena 6, etc.) there's a collective anxiety underneath the Politics of Hope, waiting for a disaster --- a gaffe, a scandal, a Clinton comeback, a Republic smear campaign, an assassin's bullet. We enter New Hampshire with Barack, holding our breath and wanting to believe.