WASHINGTON, July 10 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's lapses from the party line could hurt him among black voters, some campaign observers said.
Last month at Howard University in Washington, Obama, D-Ill., said homosexuality carries "a stigma" in black communities that touches on homophobia.
And at a black Baptist Church in Spartanburg, S.C., Obama addressed the responsibilities of fathers saying, "There are a lot of men out there who need to stop acting like boys, who need to realize that responsibility does not end at conception, who need to know that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one."
In a recent Gallup poll, Obama drew 40 percent black support followed closely by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., at 38 percent, USA Today reported Tuesday.
Ronald Walters, director of the African American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland, said Obama's comments may alienate him from some black voters.
Walters also told USA Today that Obama has no choice because he must counter notions that because he is black, he will have a "wild progressive agenda."
