In fact, as I write today, there seems to be a prospect of almost inevitability of her winning the Democratic presidential nomination. It may be that to date upwards of 7 million black voters have been drawn into the Hillary Clinton camp. And this has occurred despite the fact, as I shall show, that the announced political programs of the two leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination would call for an entirely different result.

Let’s now compare the platforms of Senators Clinton and Obama on a political and social issue of commanding importance to most black voters. This is the huge and persisting racial gap in the United States in unemployment, poverty, healthcare, and education. To be sure, black voters in the United States no longer automatically vote skin color in any particular election contest. Nor do they always ask which candidate is best for black people. Yet among the majority of African Americans, the issue of race and racial inequality persists as a concern of paramount importance. The famed commentator on presidential elections, Theodore White, once said there are three great and enduring issues in the United States. They are “war and peace,” “bread and butter,” and “black and white.” In black America today, as always, “bread and butter” and “black and white” rise to the very top where they sometimes challenge even the issue of  “war and peace.”

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