Racial politics in America, Jeff Smith and Barack Obama face similar obstacles.

Recent polls suggest that Mr. Obama trails one of his rivals for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the battle for African-American support.

On its face, it seems like Obama should find it easy to wrap up support from the majority of black voters long as no other black candidate enters the race. There have been only a handful of black candidates for President in our history. Among those, Obama most likely has a better shot than of any of his predecessors to win the presidency. Nevertheless, Hillary appears to be garnering more support from black voters than Obama. Certainly some of her support is attributable to the fact that Bill Clinton, was so popular among black voters that novelist Toni Morrison dubbed him "the first black president". Yet the struggle that Obama is now encountering has an eerie similarity to the struggles of Jeff Smith in Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? as he sought support from black leaders in St. Louis.

Despite the fact that Jeff had dedicated his life to addressing racial inequality and injustice and clearly understood the issues that face the black community more than any other candidates in the race, he struggled to get support from black politicians and business leaders. In analyzing Jeffs struggle, Sylvester Brown had this to say:

Sylvester Brown Interview from Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?

Some of the parallels between Jeffs race and the 2008 Democratic primary for President are striking.