Nice save...
I know exactly what the term "Great White Hope" means as a metaphor, and that it has nothing to do with race in that context, but I've made the mistake of using it elsewhere and spending more time defending the term than on the actual subject.
In fact, I believe on one such occasion I was referring to Obama as a "Great White Hope" for the Democrats, which should have made the metaphorical reference glaringly obvious. Go figure.