On the August 14 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show, co-host Dan Caplis asked: "[H]as anybody ever actually accused" Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) of not being “black enough”? Caplis further asked, "[O]r is that something his campaign keeps stirring up?" However, in stating, "[A]s far as I can see, nobody is saying that. Nobody's leveling that allegation," Caplis ignored comments he made on his July 25 show, when he and co-host Craig Silverman discussed a question asked during July 23 CNN/YouTube Democratic presidential debate about whether Obama is “black enough.” In fact, during the discussion, Caplis called it "[k]ind of an offensive question on its face."

Caplis also did not mention numerous news reports regarding comments about Obama's “blackness” and statements by national media figures who have discussed or questioned Obama's racial identity.

Caplis and Silverman were discussing remarks made on August 12 by Obama's wife, Michelle Obama, addressing allegations that her husband is not “black enough.” After playing her comment -- “If a man like Barack Obama isn't black enough, then who is?” -- on the air, Caplis said that “as far as I can see, nobody is saying that. Nobody's leveling that allegation, and so then the question I come to is: If this is a case where the Obama camp is intentionally raising this straw man itself, why is it doing that?” Caplis later added that perhaps Obama's campaign was “just trying to make Barack out to be some kind of ... racial victim, just, just something to try to coalesce black support.”

However, on the July 25 broadcast, before playing a clip of the July 23 debate in which Obama was asked how he “address[es] those who say you're not authentically black enough?” Caplis stated, “How about this: Obama asked during the debate whether he's black enough.” After playing the clip, Caplis stated, “Boy, what a silly question. Are you black enough?” He added that the question was “beneath ... the standards of a debate like that.”

Furthermore, as Media Matters for America has noted, after Obama stated his intentions to seek national office, some media figures started to question Obama's racial identity. For instance, on the February 13 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, as the weblog Think Progress pointed out, Rush Limbaugh noted that Obama had said in an interview that "[i]f you look African-American in this society, you're treated as an African-American" and added that "[i]f it's not something you want to be, if you didn't decide it, renounce it, become white!" Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck took it a step further, claiming that Obama “is colorless,” adding that “as a white guy ... [y]ou don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white.”

Media Matters also noted that on the August 8 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, an all-white panel discussed an upcoming forum at a National Association of Black Journalists convention that will address, according to the convention program -- as quoted by The Washington Post -- the question Obama “cannot seem to shake -- is he black enough? Is this an unfair question? What is the measure of blackness and who gets to decide?” During the discussion, host Tucker Carlson asserted that Obama “could just as easily identify as white” and added that “if he made that decision, the Left would jump on him.”

Furthermore, the question of whether Obama is “black enough” has received considerable coverage, including articles about the July 23 debate question in USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and Forbes.

From the August 14 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show:

CAPLIS: And then we have some great sound of Michelle Obama complaining that some say her husband's not black enough. We'll have that sound for you and talk about that underlying issue a little bit. And kind of the, the subissue there: Who says he's not black enough? I mean, has anybody ever actually accused him of that, or is that something his campaign keeps stirring up? So that'll be fun to dig into. And, you know, Barack Obama, you know, once again indicating, in my opinion, he's not ready for prime time. We all know that tune. A nice beat, but hard to dance to.

[...]

CAPLIS: Boy, a lot on the table today. And want to talk a little bit. We'll play some sound when we come back. Couple of things: One is, you know -- and I'm just fascinated by this -- maybe an archaeologist or political scientist or somebody has traced the origin of this “Is Barack Obama black enough?” phenomena. Certainly a question that would never have occurred to me or crossed my mind, nor, I would suggest, the minds of most other rational people in the universe. But we hear so much from the Obama camp rebelling against this charge that he's not black enough. First, is anybody really making that charge? And why is the Obama camp continuing to bring this up? And Brad did a great job of finding the sound of Michelle Obama couple of days ago complaining about this. So we'll play that sound.

[...]

SILVERMAN: Honestly, I think it is a question in the black community because it's, it's just a modern phenomenon that people who are very educated -- and Barack Obama's extremely educated: editor of the law review at Harvard Law School, somebody who speaks real articulately -- and, and we hear about this, and it's one of the things that are holding back black kids, is they say, “You're acting white.”

CAPLIS: Yeah.

SILVERMAN: And so in the black community, if you're tied in, there's a certain segment, I'm sure, that are saying, “Is this guy really a brother, or is he acting too white?” That's just part of reality. So, I, I, I know you don't care for Barack Obama so much, but I think those questions and those issues are being raised in the black community.

CAPLIS: Well, and I think -- I have a different theory. And let me get to that in a second. But here's Michelle Obama a couple of days ago in Chicago railing against -- what?

MICHELLE OBAMA [audio clip]: What are we saying to our children? If a man like Barack Obama isn't black enough, then who is? Who are they supposed to be? So we have to cut that nonsense out because it is not helping our children.

CAPLIS: But, but as far as I can see, nobody is saying that. Nobody's leveling that allegation, and so then the question I come to is: If this is a case where the Obama camp is intentionally raising this straw man itself, why is it doing that? And, and I guess, you know, the -- probably the most plausible answer would be because it does not have the kind of support among black voters in the polls right now that I'm sure that it wants. And, and maybe it's just trying to make Barack out to be some kind of, of, you know, racial victim, just, just something to try to coalesce black support. Maybe I'm missing it. Maybe there's some other angle where they figure that raising this allegation that he's not black enough will lead to more white support. But when Barack is having the trouble he's having in the polls, and he's making the mistake on top of mistake on top of mistake that he's making -- and the one he made today may be there at the top of the list -- then, you know, I've got to believe that they are the ones putting this out there for some strategic reason known only to them.

SILVERMAN: Boy, I think you're just way wrong on this. If you listen fairly to Michelle Obama, and you consider where she was speaking, you, of all people, should be able to appreciate this. Do you know who she was talking to there?

CAPLIS: I do. I saw that article. I can't remember it.

SILVERMAN: She was speaking to a predominantly black “Women for Obama” rally on Chicago's South Side. So when she's talking about “we,” I think she was talking about something other than the presidential campaign. And if you want somebody who's real in this race, I think one of the most real people -- and I don't pretend that I've studied her for a long time, but what I've seen makes me think that she's real, she speaks her mind, she's honest and open, and that's Michelle Obama.

From the July 25 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show:

CAPLIS: How about this: Obama asked during the debate whether he's black enough. Kind of an offensive question on its face, I would think. Cut nine.

[begin audio clip]

JORDAN WILLIAMS [student at the University of Kansas]: This is meant for Senator Obama and Senator Clinton. Whenever I read an editorial about one of you, the author never fails to mention the issue of race or gender, respectively. Either one is not authentically black enough, or the other is not satisfactorily feminine. How will you address these critics and their charges if one or both of you should end up on the Democratic ticket in '08?

ANDERSON COOPER [debate moderator]: Senator Obama, how do you address those who say you're not authentically black enough? Hey --

OBAMA: Well --

COOPER: -- not my question. Jordan's question.

OBAMA: You know, when I'm catching a cab in Manhattan in the past, I think I, I've given my credentials. But, but, but let me, let me, let me go to the broader issue here. And that is that race permeates our society. It is still a critical problem. But I do believe in the core decency of the American people. And I think they want to get beyond some of our racial divisions. Unfortunately, we've had a White House that hasn't invested in the kinds of steps that have to be done to overcome the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in this country. And, as president of the United States, my commitment on issues like education, my commitment on issues like health care, is to close the disparities and the gaps because that's what's really going to solve the race problem in this country. If people feel like they've got a fair shake, if children feel as if the fact that they have a different surname or they've got a different skin color is not going to impede their dreams, then I am absolutely confident that we're going to be able to move forward on the challenges that we face as a country.

[end audio clip]

CAPLIS: Boy, what a silly question. Are you black enough? And, and very, very silly, and, and, and beneath, I think, the, the standards of a debate like that to even pose a question and say, “It's not my question.” Right. Who chose to have it played?

SILVERMAN: I, I thought it was an appropriate question, and one that Barack Obama was very prepared to tackle. He was asked that on 60 Minutes, as I recall, and he wrote a whole book about it -- Dreams from My Father -- when he wrestles himself with the race issue. And for a long time he was asking himself, “Am I black enough? What does it mean to be a black guy?” 'Cause he was raised primarily by a white lady from Kansas -- where our last caller was from -- who moved to Hawaii, met Barack Obama's father, who shortly thereafter went back to his native Africa and other parts of the world. And Barack Obama barely saw his father, and he was raised by a lily-white mother. And her parents were also from Kansas and had made it out to Hawaii. So, for a long time there he didn't know what it meant to be a black guy. And the whole book, Dreams from My Father, is about him grappling with that issue. So it, it's a completely fair question for Barack Obama because he's wrestled with it himself.

CAPLIS: But it's a meaningless question. Black enough for what? And, and the fact that he's wrestled with it, that, that just, you know, smacks of either just something personal to Obama, and I respect him for it -- if he personally wants to wrestle with that, hey, that, that's his right. But in terms of public policy, the, the public, that, that smacks of politics to me. Black enough for what? What does that question mean? You say it's a good question. What does it mean?