Move Over Jeremiah Wright- Ludacris is Here

Obama and Ludacris



"Hillary hated on you, so that bitch is irrelevant,"

"McCain don't belong in ANY chair unless he's paralyzed. Yeah I said it cause Bush is mentally handicapped."

"Paint the White House black."

Such are the "melodious" lyrics of gangsta rapper thug, Chris Bridges, aka Ludacris, with his latest ditty, "Obama is Here". With this obscene piece, America is now being treated to a race-based election-something most all of us wanted to avoid.

There was a time not so long ago that Barack Obama professed that he didn't want a race-based election. He tried to paint himself as one who transcended race. However, after Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger, coupled with some shifty and sly remarks by the Clintons during the primary, it seems that we have to endure an increasingly ugly campaign centered, at least partially, around race. This week, Obama himself chose to remind audiences in Missouri of his race. Now comes Ludacris with an in-your-face recording that can do Obama no good.

Knowing this, the Obama campaign has (rightfully) condemned the recording and said that Ludacris "should be ashamed of himself." True enough, but, once again, Obama cannot say, "I don't even know the guy."

Problem is-he does. Not in a bad way by all accounts. They have met a few times in connection with AIDS awareness programs. Yet, if one is going to associate with gangsta rappers, you need to pick them very carefully-at least if you are a politician seeking the highest office in the land.

So now, Obama has to publicly disassociate himself from yet another questionable character. They are really piling up, and with each new Obama associate that crawls out from under a rock, his campaign can only go downward.

It is unfortunate but true that the words of people like Jeremiah Wright and Ludacris can and will lead many whites to consider race when voting, whereas they might not have otherwise taken that into account. The recording by Mr Bridges, though not related to any issues, is just another unfortunate development for Obama, for the country, and for everyone hoping to have an election free of racial tension.