What if Michelle Obama was White?

Would it matter to you? If you supported or voted for Barack Obama, would Michelle Obama's race play a factor in your decision to support or vote for him?

Seems like a trivial question, right? But ... not really since this is a topic of discussion amongst African-Americans and it seems from reactions that I find on the blogosphere- It Does Matter!

Now let's be clear. Michelle Obama's race would not play a factor if you are any other race but African-American. Although, I have not seen any blogs out there that entertain this question but more importantly would provide a sample large enough from Caucasians thus, I can not rule out that they would be opposed.

So, we shall discuss what we do know. And ... we know that African-Americans would not support/vote for Barack Obama if Michelle Obama were Caucasian ... at least preliminarily.

Danielle Belton claims, "Despite all of our progress in the better acceptance of interracial couples, it's hard to get elected to office when you are a black person married a white person."

This reminds me of a study that we examined in my Sociology class my freshman year of college. It claimed that a gay interracial couple would get more flack for being interracial than being gay.

But, it is Belton's case study that I am at odds with. In order to prove her case that Barack Obama would not be elected President let alone Senator, she uses Former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. as an example. Although African-Americans do react negatively to Ford's wife, I do not believe that may necessarily apply to Obama.

Ford's wife is considered a "trophy wife" by some, she is young, beautiful blonde with no notable accomplishments. My girlfriend made the clever point to ask, "What if Michelle was Caucasian but at an equivalent or better level than the African-American version of Michelle Obama?"

That is to say, if Michelle Obama was not the stereotypical Caucasian trophy wife that African-Americans view Ford's as, would their opinion change? If Michelle Obama was an intelligent, Princeton educated, Harvard lawyer but she was Caucasian ... would African-Americans be receptive?

Belton adds, "There are a still a lot insecurities in the black community and nothing brings them out more passionately than that shunted feeling black people (especially black women) get when black men who "make it" marry outside their race."

This is interesting and although in my opinion it is silly, that does not mean that it is not true, at least in their opinion. If that is the case though, what does it say about race relations? When all this time we have been talking about discrimination where African-Americans were the victims ... what if they are now the culprit?