By breaking the color barrier for the Presidency, like Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis, Jackie Robinson, Sidney Poitier and Martin Luther King, Obama becomes a Folk Hero.

This makes him the darling of the Press and gives him a strong Teflon coating. In addition, by breaking the biggest color barrier on Earth, the Presidency of the United States, Obama goes beyond mere Folk Hero status and attains Super Folk Hero.

27% say they will never vote for a black, 24% for a woman, I think it was 35% for a Mormon and 53% for an atheist.

Fortunately, Obama is NOT a black woman Mormon atheist. Because he is just a black man, he has an excellent chance to romp over the Republicans, who will be cast as the Folk Villians in 2008 against Super Folk Hero.  The Dems have not had a Super-Powered Folk Hero run for President since maybe Andrew Jackson.  JFK and FDR were great candidates but they became Folk Heroes AFTER they were elected.  Obama is a Super-Powered Folk Hero before the first vote has been cast.

This Folk Hero Status would also be granted to the female or Hispanic in the race if they had the charisma and skills to pull it off. But clearly they do not.

So besides the incredible skills and charisma of Obama, he has another terrific advantage:

He's black.