With Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin effectively energizing the conservative base in recent weeks, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama seemingly has bigger fish to fry in regard to his strategy to ultimately overtake the Oval Office. In a sense that’s true, because Obama has to work overtime to prove to voters that he is indeed the man most qualified for the job — something Karl Rove pointed out in a recent article for The Wall Street Journal.

The ultimate reality is Obama should focus on Republican presidential nominee John McCain while energizing the base of youth and college students who could determine whether he becomes our nation’s first black president or the third Democratic runner-up in a row. That’s where the world of hip-hop becomes so important.

Not since John F. Kennedy has the Democratic Party enjoyed a candidate whose charisma and appeal has made him a political icon and cultural phenomenon. It’s clear a large number of potential voters feel a connection with Obama deeper than his political stance and foreign policy. With the hip-hop community — among others — supporting him, the 18-24 age bracket has responded positively without needing a corny “Vote or Die” slogan to fire us up.

A dilemma exists here: With that camaraderie, a fair amount of baggage also tags along. Through the process of putting themselves in the line of fire, the hip-hop community also has to be careful what messages they attach to the Illinois senator based on the intense scrutiny that both face going into November. In a world where every political jab is recorded and repeated in the news ad nauseam, the last thing Obama needs is for a rapper such as Ludacris to go on record with misogynist insults toward Hillary Clinton, who’s been every bit as important to the future of the election post-primary as she was as a potential nominee.

Obama’s celebrity in the hip-hop world establishes a much deeper link because of his ties to the black community. It’s fragile territory because he’s no longer at the point where he can be the cool political figure deeply immersed in the genre — he has to chose his moves carefully, and there’s going to be backlash every time he’s forced to make a statement on what the latest hip-hop song has to say about his candidacy. He either takes the risk of being a sellout within his community, or takes the bigger hit of looking unfavorable within the political arena.

It’s also not a one-way street where hip-hop should be forced to censor itself or downplay its happiness over having a candidate it identifies with. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter what anyone outside of the Obama campaign says because it’s not reflective of his own words.

There’s also been a huge stream of positives through song and activism via the hip-hop community that gets overlooked because of the focus on the few negatives. After all, shouldn’t we applaud the genre for stepping beyond its stereotypes and actually hitting the streets to get people to vote, whether for Obama or not?

The same way the most radical sects of the conservative philosophy don’t reflect the values of the right, or any candidate they endorse, as a whole, there’s no reason why the artistic gaffes of a few should possibly harm a candidate or the genre itself. The political spectrum is simply that — everyone’s ideas differ.

In Obama’s case, it’d be unwise for his campaign or followers to attempt to write hip-hop off as an evil stepchild. For once, someone has its undivided attention, and losing the community down the road could be a crippling blow for both Obama and the demographics who look up to him.

Jahshua Smith is a State News columnist. Reach him at smithjah@msu.edu.