by TONY BEST

"I FEEL SOME ELEMENT of sympathy for Obama."

Prime Minister David Thompson wasn't expressing a political preference for the policies of United States Senator Barack Obama in the American Democratic presidential campaign for the White House. Instead, he was referring to the things that bind them: the fact that their two sets of parents were of mixed race backgrounds.

But he was doing something else: he was comparing the ability of Barbados and its Caribbean neighbours to deal with racial issues in a political climate in a much different fashion from the United States.

Societal wounds

Specifically, he was talking about the way Caribbean countries, not simply his own, handle questions of race and political leadership that allowed them to avoid bitter duels which often leave gaping societal wounds that don't heal quickly.

Asked by a corporate executive to comment on the heated Democratic presidential battle that pits Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton against each other, Thompson sought to focus his audience's attention on the challenges the black senator from Illinois is confronting against the white former first lady for the presidential nomination in November's election for the White House.

At first, the Prime Minister hesitated to comment on the United States election when asked to do so at a New York Carib News editorial board meeting in Manhattan.

But he obviously had second thoughts and opted to limit his observations to the issue of race, which is turning out to be a pivotal question in the remaining weeks of the primary season.

Clearly, Thompson felt comfortable commenting on it because like Obama, he is the son of a white mother and black father. As in the case of Obama, he is an attorney who is married to a black woman.

Thompson was quite clear about the acceptance of political leaders of mixed race by Bajan and other Caribbean voters.

"Persons in the Caribbean of mixed race backgrounds find much easier acceptance and find it much easier to draw a line in the sand politically, in relation to political involvement than is happening in the United States," he said.

"And I feel some element of sympathy for Barack Obama as he has to navigate the intricacies of race in the United States of America," Thompson went on.

"I am going to be arrogant enough to say that our societies are much more mature and handle these things a lot better, and that our civilisation has been able to accept people of mixed race and has been able to judge them on their alliances, their viewpoints and their philosophy, rather than to narrow the debate to some of the very petty issues that have arisen in the United States."

He didn't spell out the "petty" issues he had in mind.

Race

The Prime Minister was obviously alluding to the fact that although Caribbean countries, with the exception of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, were predominantly black, in most cases 90 per cent, key decisions are routinely made without injecting race as a determining factor.

The voting pattern in the recent Pennsylvania Democratic Primary won by Clinton, a national presidential preference poll and reaction to the controversial comments made by Rev Jeremiah Wright [Obama's former pastor in Chicago], underscore the racial divide in the United States and the point Thompson was apparently seeking to make.

Clinton, the white candidate from New York, received 63 per cent of the white vote compared with Obama's 37 per cent. On the other hand, he was backed by 90 per cent of the Blacks in Pennsylvania compared with his competitor's ten per cent.

When the figures were analysed even more, the results highlighted the polarising nature of the racial issue in the United States.

For example, 57 per cent of the white men in Pennsylvania backed Clinton, with Obama getting 43 per cent.

At the same time, she garnered 68 per cent of the white women's votes; 53 per cent of the white conservative support; 62 per cent of the white Jewish ballots; an overwhelming 70 per cent of mostly white Catholic voters; 59 per cent of white Protestants; and 63 per cent of the overwhelmingly white small towns and rural communities.

Obama, on the other hand, was backed by black and white voters who live in major cities, 60 to 40 per cent; 55 per cent of the Democrats under the age of 45 years; 51 per cent of the male voters; and he split the liberal white and black vote 50 to 50 with Clinton.

The racial divide hinted at by Thompson was also reflected in the latest Associated Press poll, which showed Obama trailing Senator John McCain, the white Republican nominee, by 38-51 per cent, while Clinton was behind McCain among Whites by a narrower margin of 43-48 per cent.