Why Did Obama Choose a White Woman over a Black Woman in Campaign Ad?

Obama creates a fictional character to speak to white voters, but what about everyone else?

Unlike the Republicans, who used a real-life Joe The Plumber to profile, President Obama’s camp recently created a fictional woman, Julia, to portray how his policies would better women. What’s interesting is that the woman is white and contrary to what many people have been ranting about, she is not necessarily dependent on the policies of Obama — more so taking advantage of them.

Julia is a digital representation of a young girl growing up in America. She starts out by enrolling in a Head Start program and eventually goes to college with the help of Obama’s “Race to the Top” program. Obama’s Health Care Reform makes a cameo twice, once when Julia is 27 years old and interested in birth control and another time when she is 31 and pregnant. At 42, Julia starts her own web business and takes advantage of Obama’s tax cuts for small businesses.

According to the 2007 Census, black-owned firms only accounted for 7.1% of small businesses while white-owned firms accounted for 83.4%; women-owned firms were 28.8% of small businesses. No wonder she’s a white entrepreneur. When she turns 65, she’s enrolling in Medicare and is about to start receiving Social Security. At each point in Julia’s life, a contrast is painted of Mitt Romney and how his policies would hurt her.

Its no question that President Obama needs to reach white voters but is it wise for him to informally add an ethnicity to a character that’s meant to speak to all women?

[ALSO READ: USA Voted for Obama Because He's Black]

In 2008, the voter turnout was different for each racial group. Non-Hispanic whites composed the largest voting group so, in that regard, it makes sense to have a fair-skinned Julia. Non-Hispanic whites had the highest registration and turnout at 75% and 67%, respectively.

Even though black voter registration and voters trailed them by about 6 percent in each category and the overall power of voting numbers was not as great, 95% of black voters went to the ballot for Obama. Too bad Imani and Ebony aren’t able to see how their life would pan out as well.