'If He Were a White Man, He'd Be Up By 15 to 20 Points In the Polls'

If he were a white man, Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee.

SPIEGEL: Professor Dyson, the polls show Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama clearly ahead of Republican candidate John McCain. The Republican Party's standing in the polls seems to have hit rock bottom, and the financial crisis is helping Obama. Has he already won the election?

Michael Eric Dyson: Certainly. If he were a white man, he'd be up by 15 to 20 points in the polls. But there are many Americans who -- regardless of the intelligence or the profound political persuasion of a figure like Barack Obama -- will never vote for a black man. Not all of them are racists; some are skeptical, and some are suspicious.

SPIEGEL: Do these people still matter, especially after Obama so clearly won the televised debate last week?

Dyson: Still, his sheer eloquence is often held against him. If a black person stumbles rhetorically, he is viewed as incompetent and unintelligent. If, like Obama, he rises to elegant expression, there is doubt cast on his intentions, aspirations and motivations. If he ever got emotionally intense, Obama would be viewed as an "angry black man." There's an awful tough tightrope for Obama to walk, and there's little doubt that it's held taut by racial tensions.

Taut with racial tensions, with Obama and the Democrats pulling the rope on both ends.

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