Barack Obama: Not Black Enough for President?

So Far, Obama Can't Take Black Vote for Granted
New York Times
February 2, 2007

link

I understand that Barack Obama has a different racial background than your typical African American, and this is indicative of a present-day schism with African immigrants (like in higher education, where "blacks" are mostly African ex-pats). But what is this shit?

"I've got nothing but love for the brother, but we don't have anything in common," said Ms. Dickerson, who wrote recently about Mr. Obama in Salon, the online magazine. "His father was African. His mother was a white woman. He grew up with white grandparents.

"Now, I'm willing to adopt him," Ms. Dickerson continued. "He married black. He acts black. But there's a lot of distance between black Africans and African-Americans."

Since when do you have to have the same background as your elected officials? When did the slavery of 150 years ago become a common experience of all African Americans (as people quoted in the article say)? And most importantly, if you're a black person and you stick up your nose at Barack Obama as a black candidate, what alternative can you possibly offer?

I'm kind of pissed at the NYTimes for running such a race-baiting non-sequitur of an article.