Roland Martin: Barack Obama’s black wakeup call

“If the advisers around Sen. Barack Obama want to continue to delude themselves into thinking they have lots of time for black voters to get around to figuring out their candidate’s record on issues they care about, then the latest CNN poll surely must be the kind of slap in the face to bring them back to reality.

“There was a general assumption when Obama announced for the presidency that he was going to garner a lion’s share of the black vote. In a normal presidential race, sure. But with Sen. Hillary Clinton in the race, the reality of the affection — real and perceived — that black folks have for the Clintons is clearly what has her storming out to a strong lead over Obama.

“According to the CNN poll, Clinton leads Obama among black registered Democrats, 57 percent to 33 percent. Black women are backing Clinton to the tune of 68 percent compared with 25 percent for Obama. Black men favor Obama 46 percent to 42 percent for Clinton. The poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 6.5 percent.