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Ludacris’ new song, “Politics as Usual,” may have cost him one of his biggest fans, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

And for good reason: It points up the dilemma facing the nation’s potential first black president, who wants the support of the influential hip-hop community but needs to steer clear of the controversy so commonly associated with its music.

Ludacris’ “Politics as Usual” alludes to an imminent victory for Obama by handing out major put-downs to his rivals. It dismisses Hillary Rodham Clinton as a vice presidential candidate – 

“that (expletive) is irrelevant”- and says presumed Republican nominee John McCain doesn’t belong in “any chair unless he’s paralyzed.”

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Obama, usually a Ludacris fan, was quick to distance himself Thursday.

“While Ludacris is a talented individual, he should be ashamed of these lyrics,” 

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in an e-mail statement. He also called the song “outrageously offensive.”

Calls to Ludacris’ publicist and manager were not immediately returned Thursday.

That Obama’s one-time praise for Ludacris has turned to scorn really is politics as usual, said John McWhorter, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, and author of “All About the Beat: Why Hip-Hop Can’t Save Black America.”

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“Of course, Obama and his people have to condemn the rap, because it does say some vulgar things,” 

he said. “If you’re running for president, you’re supposed to be an upstanding individual.”

While hip-hop fans are expected to be a factor in the November election, the song is not.

“Hip-hoppers and black folks understand the game,” said Jeff Johnson, an activist and host of an upcoming news and public affairs show on Black Entertainment Television. 

“They’re thinking, ‘An Obama who knows how to play the game is still better for me than a McCain.”‘

“There are a ton of people who clearly are looking for (Obama) to denounce this in order to continue to view him as credible,” 

Johnson said. “He, for political purposes, has to separate himself from anything controversially black.”

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During the Democratic primary, Obama was bolstered by the black vote, and he has pledged to boost black participation by 30 percent in November – 

potentially adding nearly 2 million votes in 11 Southern states, enough to tip the balance in several states that have been solidly Republican.

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