Obama: Post-Racial After All?

Barak Obama was often touted as a "post-racial" candidate by the media. this despite the fact that he actually often implicitly or explicitly attributed racist motives to critics and criticism. Right up to Election Day, I would not have said that anything had changed.


Obama's election has caused me to rethink that view. First the overwhelming joy and pride his election has instilled in African-Americans, is a phenomenon that I had not anticipated. The single "step" of electing a black man as President may well have created the opportunity for "a giant leap" forward in race relations in America.


For one thing, the "race card" ought to receive a quick burial. The fact is that a black man was elected President. 52% voted for Obama. It is certainly an understatement to assume that at least half of the 47% who voted for McCain did not do so on race grounds. Thus, its no exaggeration to say that for at least 75% of the American electorate, race is not a factor affecting their vote. America can not fairly be called a racist country.


As such, politicians and pundits who try to dismiss critics as racists should be rebuked. There will be many things done by an Obama Administration that I won't like. I intend to express my criticism when appropriate. In the past, as I noted here, I might have done so with some trepidation. That should no longer be true. The Jesse Jackson-Al Sharpton-David Gantt, race-card mentality should not be allowed to persist.


Of similar (and perhaps, greater) importance is the example that has been created by the election of the President Obama and the elevation of the Obama's as the First Family. On election night, the Obama family stood on the stage. You had a husband and wife, mother and father, and their children. Lets not kid ourselves, the black family, once one of the strongest institutions in our country, has fallen on hard times. It is much more common today that a black child lives in a single parent home or with a relative other than his/her mother or father.


The Obama family can be an example to African-Americans across the country. The Obama family may be the Huxtables on steroids, as far as example and inspiration go. The D&C's Jim Lawrence pointed this out in his editorial entitled Mentor in Chief. Hopefully young blacks will understand the value of education, marriage, and work. They will see the fact that being well educated, well-spoken, well-dressed, well-mannered, etc., leads to success. They will have reason to believe that the American Dream can apply to them if they act responsibly to attain it.


I have great doubts about the likelihood that President Obama's policies will be successful. He was and remains an extreme liberal. Nonetheless, if his election does have the salutary effects noted above, his election will indeed have been "historic".