Barack Obama  &  Oprah Winfrey
In 1973, the O’Jays recorded a song that exhorted, “Put your hands together, and let us pray.”

Barack Obama has a real chance of winning the presidency I support him not because he is Black, but because I believe he is the better candidate, and the one most appropriate for this time in history.

However, there is still the racial factor involved.

I had to laugh at and agree with Chris Rock when he said he was tired of the president of the United States always being a White man. Rock quipped, “I’ll take a Black man, a Black woman, a White woman…I’ll even take a giraffe! Anything but another White man!”

But on the serious side, every time I see Barack Obama I think of what a challenge it will be for him if he wins. Racists (and Republicans) will give him a hard time on one side, and on the other, certain types of African Americans will say, “He’s not doing enough for Black people.” I just hear it now! (And I would advise Obama to keep a safe distance from people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton — “leaders” I, for one, would never follow. Even Jackson’s son, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., described his father’s remarks about Barack Obama as “ugly rhetoric” that he “thoroughly rejects and repudiates.” I think Jesse Jackson Sr. is jealous.)

These naysayers would be forgetting that Obama would be president of the United States, not president of Black America. (And it should be noted that Black people comprise less than 15 percent of the total U.S. population.)

Similarly, Oprah Winfrey presents her immensely popular TV show to the whole country, sometimes doing shows focusing on African American issues. It would be incredibly shortsighted for her to aim her whole show specifically at the Black community. Nevertheless, there are people in that community who say, “Oprah programs her show for White people, especially White women,” which is unfair and untrue.

If Barack Obama becomes president, during his acceptance speech he should be sure to thank Oprah Winfrey because she was an all-the-way supporter when no other high profile person was.

One more thing: If you want to see Barack Obama “cut a step,” go to YouTube.com and enter “Barack Obama dancing,” and you will see him “movin’ and groovin’” with Ellen DeGeneres.

IT WAS A pleasant surprise to receive a handwritten note the other day from Claudette Robinson, formerly of the Miracles. She reports that the Miracles will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in early 2009. Smokey Robinson, Claudette’s ex-husband, already has a star as a solo artist.

Even though Claudette stopped performing with the group in 1965 (to have children, etc.), she continued to record with Smokey, Bobby Ronnie and Pete. Her favorite is “More Love,” which Smokey wrote specifically for her.

George Clinton’s next album should be interesting, for among other reasons the fact that El DeBarge, Carlos Santana, Chico DeBargeand Sly Stone make guest appearances.

Detroit’s own Freda Payne has been doing a one-woman show called “The Ella Fitzgerald Story.”

Country music songwriters can really come up with funny, take-no-prisoners titles. For example, on the charts right now are “His Kind of Money (My Kind of Love),” “Back When I Knew It All,” “You Look Good in My Shirt” and “Upper Middle Class White Trash.”

SAM MOORE, of the famed duo Sam & Dave, issued a cease and desist letter to stop the Barack Obama organization from using the Sam & Dave hit “Hold On, I’m Comin’” in the campaign. He said it was done “without my permission” and showed a lack of courtesy.

Other than that, he has nothing against the presidential candidate, explaining, “It is thrilling in my lifetime to see that our country has matured to the place where it is no longer an impossibility for a man of color to (seriously) be considered for the highest office in the land.”

Plenty of stars have been lining up to support Obama, including John Legend, the Dixie Chicks, Ludacris, Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Melissa Etheridge, will.i.am, Barbra Streisand and Chuck Berry.

Speaking of times changing for the better, in the 1943 film “Cabin in the Sky” there was a scene in which the beautiful Lena Horne was taking a (sexy) bubble bath. That scene was deleted because it was believed that “America would not accept a Negro woman on film taking a bubble bath.” (Pure ignorance!)

Troubled but talented White soul singer Amy Winehouse made another odd comment. Speaking of her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who is now in jail, Winehouse said, “I’d never loved a White man before.”

BETCHA DIDN’T KNOW ….that Dionne Warwick lives in the U.S. and in Brazil.

MEMORIES: “Ladies Night” (Kool & the Gang), “Get On Up” (the Esquires), “Typical Male” (Tina Turner), “Come Get to This” (Marvin Gaye), “Any Time, Any Place” (Janet Jackson), “The Chokin’ Kind” (Joe Simon), “Groove Me” (Guy), “All Night Long” (the Mary Jane Girls), “Maybe” (the Chantels).

BLESSINGS to Robert Williams, Sylvia Moy, Bill Andrews, Alexis Williams, Keena Green, Rosa Robinson, Calvin Brooks and Cliff Russell.

WORDS OF THE WEEK: “You don’t have to attend every argument you are invited to.”

Let the music play!

(Steve Holsey may be reached at Svh517@aol.com and P.O. Box 02843, Detroit, MI 48202.)