During Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, many, particularly African-Americans, openly worried he might be the victim of an assassination attempt. The primaries suggested even some Democrats could not accept the idea of a black president. And there was a curiosity from everyone about what exactly it meant to have an African-American as the country’s leader.
It turns out that in many ways, having a black president is very similar to having a white one. President Obama’s tenure has been dramatic, but largely for reasons outside of his race: two wars, a recession and intense legislative debates, particularly over health care. He has conducted himself largely in the tradition of the 43 men who preceded him and mostly emphasized the kinds of issues any Democratic president would have, whatever his or her race.
And while some feel the Tea Party has treated the president with a high amount of disrespect, the vast majority of Americans accept Obama as the president and largely evaluate him outside of a racial context.
Three years into the tenure of the first black president, and only months before he stands for re-election, the issues being debated are very familiar. Should the government raise taxes or cut spending to reduce the benefit deficit? What should be done to address the widening gap between the incomes of the rich and poor? Should gay and lesbian people have the right to marry? Should abortion rights be expanded or curtailed?
In part, this stems from Obama’s own behavior. He has gone out of his way to cast himself as the president of all people. This has occasionally drawn criticism from others, particularly liberal voices like Tavis Smiley, who say he should speak out more on issues like high unemployment among blacks.
Publicly, Obama and his team rebut such charges by saying the president must craft policies that benefit all Americans. Privately, they note legislation like the economic stimulus and the health care reform disproportionately benefit African-Americans.
In part, the reduced focus on the president’s race reflects changes in the broader American culture. Figures such as Michael Jordan, Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey had already illustrated an America increasingly ready for African-American leadership in other fields that had simply not yet rallied around a political figure before Obama.
In some ways, the lack of change is not a positive. Obama has not ushered in some key of new era in politics: there are now zero black senators and only black governor (Massachusetts’ Deval Patrick). The two parties are as divided as when Obama was elected.
To be sure, Obama has made moves his predecessors did not. He has weighed into issues that have particular effects or interest among African-Americans, such as criticizing the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 2009. It’s unlikely another first lady would have hosted a showing of the film For Colored Girls as Michelle Obama did two years ago.
And moments of Obama’s tenure have been unprecedented. Some African-Americans in particular feel the Tea Party and some Republicans have never fully accepted Obama as a president, although presidents going back to the founding of the country have faced intense and even irrational anger at times.
And in a positive sense, African-Americans have embraced Obama as a cultural leader in a way a white president traditionally isn’t. His support among blacks is so intense that African-American critics of the president, even people serving in Congress, feel compelled to stay quiet.
He can help boost sales of Al Green’s songs, and Michelle Obama helps popularize dresses. (It’s important to note we have no data on the race of buyers of these products, and non-black liberals also embrace the Obamas as cultural leaders because their cool vibe, race aside)
There’s also no doubt Obama’s success is an inspiration to achieve anything in America, as he broke what was believed to be the hardest ceiling to crack, a non-white male ascending to the presidency.
But on race, the time since Obama’s inauguration has been in some ways remarkable for how unremarkable it has been. The biggest barrier to him winning reelection is not race, but the high unemployment rate. In 2008, his campaign pitch invoked a hope and idealism message that seemed at least a nod to the historic aspect of his candidacy.
Now, Obama is making the same kind of appeal any president would make it: he helped the country weather a series of complicated challenges and therefore deserves four more years.
Follow Perry Bacon Jr. on Twitter at @perrybaconjr