European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 10, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                July 2007 stars and stripes Page 15 opinion Obama Tightrope act socially acceptable by Amina Ian Man Washington the world Felt tops Turvy As i watched the recent presidential de Bate at Howard up seemed Down and everything was out of sync As the front runners for the democratic Hillary Clinton and Barack in this As in we watched Obama remake the traditional Persona of the Black candidate and someone else take what might have been his from the it was Clear that Barack Obama want going to be Jesse Jackson or Al for every rhythmic alliteration Jackson would have Obama gave us pauses and sentences in Para for Sharp tons Quick wit and scathing Obama offered even tones and grave there was no push toward a Plaus filled he begged for contemplation and simple be came demands became propositions and they became the average Black american onlooker cant help feeling proud but also just a Little Hurt watching Obama proud of his ability to traverse minefields on a National political landscape and Hurt by what America de mands of Black candidates seeking Public acceptance and during the Black americans in the audience hands yearning to applaud a Black Candi Date Able to articulate our passions and sense of we wanted to hear that he understood and loved us not in the Gen we the people sense but in the Specif yet we know that with each utterance about each puff of anger or frustration about we lose the very thing we seek a viable Black the closer Obama comes to the further he would be from winning the nomination and the presi that is a reality of race and National poli tics in part of Obama Appeal to White America lies in his its in the Way he looks toward a brighter and its in his Promise to bring us All yet the subtext of his Appeal is in what he does not its in his ability to declare that things must get better without saying who or what has made them its How he rarely chastises and How he divides blame and responsibility evenly White receiving equal parts with poor equal parts with the we Obama has created leaves Blank the space traditional Afri can american candidates would have filled with passion or a Clear articulation of the state of Black its left some Black voters unfulfilled and some White Vot ers with a sense of acceptance and Absolu Tion from past wrongs and present Day in we Are All watching Obama Tightrope his attempts to Appeal to the White majority while maintaining some semblance of integrity regarding the plight of Black Amer its a heavy in Hillary Clinton is on relatively sure Obama must tilt away from clarity and passion about issues disproportionately affecting Blacks while Clinton is free to perform the Black candidates in the Howard it was she who took on the traditional Black candidates Perso she who was both passionate and rhythmic in her her endings built to Cre be it real or Clinton can openly connect and show Solidarity with Black americans in ways that Obama there is no better example than Clinton Cythe iq4ywv3jy comment about the disproportionate effect his has on Black she said that if Hiva ids were the leading cause of death of White women Between the Ages of 25 and there would be an outraged out cry in this for Obama to have said the same words in the same fiery Man Ner could have been political by for Clinton essentially becomes the Black candidate its not a space America would allow Obama to not Long after Obama announced his can the Buzz in the Media is Obama Black enough Many Black Ameri cans privately laughed at this we know that it takes Only a slip of the Tongue about slavery legacy or a hic cup about institutional racism or paying Spe want Neww Vns Cial attention to the needs of Black Ameri and suddenly the love would be we know that the question has less to do with Black America than with whether White America trusts that Obama is not too Black for its political we laugh at the question of Obama blackness because we live with a version of Obama Tightrope dance every we do the same dance in our with our our neighbors and our College in that Way we know Obama  be More like he  be More we along with Obama know that even the most skilled Tightrope performance May not be enough to ensure that you land on your Amina Luqman is a freelance this column first appeared in the Washington the fish Arent just there hitting and spitting by Dale Mcfeatters Scripps Howard news service Washington so on the front Page of the new York above the fold where stories about grave developments in Washington or the Mideast Are normally theres a dispatch out of Flor Ida about the very real hazards of leaping it seems boaters will be racing Down the Suwannee River at Mph when Sud Denly in front of them this huge fish shoots High in the air and splat the paper says Gulf Sturgeon can grow up to 8 feet Long and weigh up to 200 pounds in a prehistoric look ing body covered in Bony the collisions Are not people have been knocked unconscious and suffered major fractures and officials worry that someone will be knocked out of their boat and and no one seems to know Why the Stur Geon its not mating season Andjus not escape since they have no real Preda one biologist told the times it just might be their Way of alerting other Stur Geon that Treyve found a Good place to hang or maybe its something More the Sturgeon were once threatened with extinction but thanks to Federal Protection their numbers have there now May be As Many of of them lurking to terrify unwary some angry boaters have asked the state fish and wildlife service to kill them maybe the fish know in the theres another airborne fish what the Des Moines Register termed humongous jumping these Are asian species that escaped from Arkan Sas fish farms in the 1970s and spread throughout the Missouri and Illi Nois River these Are big fish up to 50 pounds and Are notorious for jumping Over and into passing inflicting concussions and broken the asian Carp Are threatening indigenous fish and electric barriers have been built to keep them from but their numbers Are increasing As National Public radio one Way of controlling them is to eat some com Mercial fisheries Are trying to develop a Market for Carp one Illinois lawmaker facetiously suggested changing the name from Carp to Rock Island sole to make them More this kind of talk gets around the fish com the fish Are not on the West there is talk of developing an Export Market for the also known As the slime a creature universally de scribed As the the associated press re feeds on the innards of rotting fish and when agitated vomits a Slimy exc res Cence that can turn a five gallon bucket of seawater into a Pool of goo in a matter of to needless to say there Are a lot of hagfish in the but apparently aging South Kore an men believe that it is an if we could popularize that belief the hagfish would be a threatened species in no time and now comes this dispatch out of mount Angler Jerry Melton was fishing in the Catawba River when he caught a 4ounce fish he didst rec he prodded the fish with his knife and the fish bit the leaving a Mark on the it was a the legend Rily carnivorous fish of the local officials believe it was an unwanted pet dumped by its but what if it want what if the other fish sent for backup maybe these Are unrelated but if you begin Reading about leaping Piranha going after boaters in North Carolina giving a whole new meaning to the old How Are they biting this is More than just a fish prickly City by Scott Stantis i j it o or Faission mpl1shed 7 it of accept no Sua stones