Clinton superdelegate predicts Obama will win in November

"If I had to make a prediction right now, I'd say Barack Obama is going to be the next president," Cleaver told Canadian public radio in an interview that aired on Sunday. "I will be stunned if he's not the next president of the United States."

The congressman said he previously thought Gen. Colin Powell was the only black American who could win the White House, because "even the right-wing...would have difficulty demonizing a highly decorated general that had paid his dues to a country that had discriminated against him."

Cleaver, an ordained minister, also said he was "outraged" over the recent controversy about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which he said demonstrated that "we do have two Americas, one black and one white." Cleaver said, "If you listen to the soundbites [of Jeremiah Wrigh], it sounds like this is a demagogue, a racist, a person who wants to enjoy the fall of the United States. And none of that is true."

But Cleaver, a former mayor of Kansas City, is still a Clinton fan, an he indicated that Obama may be graded on a curve by white Americans. The Missouri Congressman called Obama "articulate," but said that "in the black tradition, he would probably be mediocre." Last year, Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) ran into trouble when he described Obama as "clean" and "articulate," words that struck some as condescending.

"I think for many white Americans, they are looking at Barack Obama and saying 'This is our chance to demonstrate that we have been able to get this boogeyman called race behind us,'" Cleaver said. "And so they are going to vote for him, whether he has credentials or not, whether he has any experience -- I think all that's out the window."

Cleaver said Obama's speech about race would not foster a larger discussion about the issue, largely because a presidential campaign is not the right time to have that conversation. "If you are a black person running for a high public office in a predominantly white society, the one discussion you don't want is about race because that is the one thing this country has had trouble overcoming."

The congressman also dismissed the idea that Clinton and Obama could serve on a ticket together, saying he thought it was possible at one point but the option no longer seems possible.