Congressman Emanuel Cleaver conducted a far-ranging 21-minute interview with Canadian public radio that aired Sunday morning, touching on both how both black and white people view Barack Obama's candidacy. Cleaver, an African-American minister and former Kansas City mayor, is backing Sen. Hillary Clinton to the consternation of some blacks. (You can listen to the interview yourself here).

But Cleaver indicates he believes Obama will be the Democratic nominee and will win in November unless race becomes the topic of the campaign or voters in Michigan and Florida are disenfranchised.

"If I had to make a prediction right now, I'd say Barack Obama is going to be the next president...," he said. "I will be stunned if he is not the next president of the United States. Now, when he is sworn in, 99.9 percent of Americans won't know who he is or what he stands for. But it doesn't matter at this point."

That's because, Cleaver says, many white Americans are supporting Obama because "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 and so they are going to vote for him."

He says this is causing many African-Americans to "tremble" because they believe white Americans won't want to address issue of race then, saying it's been addressed by Obama's election.

Still, he's not behind a Obama candidacy. Cleaver says he has been personal friends with the Clintons for 20 years, he doesn't know Sen. Barack Obama and he believes Clinton would make the best president.

"I don't abandon my friends," Cleaver said. He said if he abandoned Clinton now then he couldn't look himself in the mirror.

He likens Clinton to the Chiefs and Obama to the Colts, saying he knows the Colts will win but he's always cheering for his Chiefs.

The far-ranging interview went national this afternoon. (AP and CNN have picked it up among others). That occurred after it caught the attention of the Obama friendly Politico.com because of Cleaver's prediction that Obama will win the presidency.

But Politico.com didn't note Cleaver offered two ways that Obama's candidacy could doom itself.

He said if Obama's handlers insist he continue to talk about race, then "He has just eliminated any possibility of winning the presidency." Cleaver said now isn't the right time to have a true discussion about race in America and during a presidential campaign it would only be a superficial one.

Also, Cleaver said Obama could lose the presidency if the Democratic Party disenfranchises Michigan and Florida voters. He said if those voters lose their voice then "we are going to do what Democrats have done many times and that is deliberately run off the cliff."

Obama also faces some gentle chiding from Cleaver over his lack of credentials and experience.

But Cleaver defends Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and some of Wright's comments that have come to light. Cleaver says he was outraged over the outrage and talked about the good work that the Chicago church has done under Wright's leadership.

"There was nothing ever racist that fell from Jeremiah Wright's lips," Cleaver said. "He never said white people are devils."

However, he did disagree with some of Wright's comments.

Also, Cleaver says he thinks "the dream ticket" could win and he would have loved to have seen it but with recent recriminations he doesn't see the names Obama and Clinton on the ballot together in November. He also says the nomination battle has to be settled before Denver.

The party's process for picking a nominee comes in for criticism from Cleaver, saying if it had occurred in another country then the United Nations would be called in.

As for whether he ever thought he'd see a black president in his lifetime, Cleaver says he believes Colin Powell would have won in 2000 and offers detailed thoughts on that.

Your thoughts on the interview?