Your response fascinates me because it mirrors the usual reasons I hear for supporting Senator Obama: he's 'clean', he's 'presentable', he's 'well spoken' and so on.
[WS:] Let me be honest about this (and you can make whatever you want out of it). I am actually quite happy to see someone like Mr. Obama, because he is in a way a cure for my own uneasy feelings. Let me explain.
You see, I have lived in Baltimore for about 15 years now, longer than in any other city except my birthplace, which I left at the age of 18. I live in Baltimore city by choice - I can certainly afford moving elsewhere - because I do not want to live in segregated suburbia or gated communities.
During that 15 year stay in Baltimore, I was surrounded by lumpen engaging in the most reprehensible kinds of behavior known to me - from public rowdiness, trash, noise, etc. to open glorification of violence, sexism and homophobia, to open contempt for anything cultural or intellectual, to racist drivel at community meetings, to breaking into my cars and apartments, to beating up my kid for no other reason that he was an easy target, and to producing one of the highest homicide rates in the nation.
I am pretty good at explaining this behavior away, but these 15 years took its toll. I realized at certain point that I started thinking like a racist, which scared a living shit out of me (as I discovered during my therapy) for reasons that I do not think I need to explain. So here I was, surrounded by an environment that was a literal embodiment of the worst racist stereotypes, worrying about preserving my ethical integrity, and on the top of it, hearing from various lefty types that the dysfunction and barbarism that I see around me is actually a good thing and that it is my life style that is a problem.
So you can easily see that in this context Mr. Obama is like a guarantee of my own sanity. I am certainly aware of the shortcomings of his politics - but that is the nature of the US political system, not his personal fault. But he provides a healthy counterbalance to the racist stereotypes fueled by the 'gangsta' subculture and its followers. And I am glad that he is what he is, for my own personal comfort.
Now Mr. Sharpton. I have to admit that my opinion of him is based on his early gigs of championing dubious popular causes (some girl falsely claiming abduction by the police, if I remember correctly). I do not know much about his current politics - I was not much interested in it mainly because of my initial negative impression of him, and yes, the rev. in front of his name. However, if Doug says that it is social democratic, I have no reason to doubt that, and I will learn more about it when I have an opportunity.
I hope that this answers some of your concerns regarding my position on the issue.
Wojtek