Four
years ago, Obama made history when he became the first African-American to be elected
the President of the United States of America. This was unexpected, given
America’s history with race. This probably explains why people thought that
Martin Luther King’s dream about blacks being judge by the content of their
character and not by the color of their skin is being realized. On November 6,
2012, history repeated itself with the re-election of Barack Obama to serve a
second term as President of the most powerful nation on earth. Again the
re-election may be seen as “breaking the racial barriers.”[1] One
wonders the rationale behind this conclusion. Obama got 93% of African-American
voters, 71% of Latino voters, and 58% of Asian voters in the election, and this
has been a topic of debates on the national media. The question is, did Obama win the election
because he is an African-American? Stated differently, did the African-Americans
vote for him in large numbers because Obama is an African-American? After all,
the recession affected the minority groups more. What is obvious is that the African-American
electorates are just a part of Obama’s so called coalition, comprising
African-Americans, women, Hispanics and gay community
Unfortunately, it appears that Americans
voted along racial lines. More white people voted for Romney than Obama. On the
other hand, more African Americans voted for Obama than Romney. This is
contrary to what Obama promised to be when he won his first election. That is,
to be the president for all Americans and not for a particular group, such as African-Americans.
Despite Obama’s popularity among his coalition, there is still evidence of
racial divide in the US. The social and economic gap between African-Americans and
whites in the U.S. continues to exist. I believe that Obama’s presidency has
not made a significant improvement with regard to the racial inequalities in
America. Of course, this also depends on the efforts put forth by the African-Americans
and Hispanics themselves. Many people would expect that with his re-election Obama would able to bridge the gap
between the racial and ethnic groups. This
may be true for the following reasons: during his victory speech, Obama said
that his goal will be to unify the nation, regardless of whether a person is
black or white, young or old, rich or poor in his second term. Now that
political pressure is off, Obama’s administration can concentrate more on race
relations, an issue some believe Obama exercised some caution because of political
expediency.[2]
Since he will not seek re-election, President Barack Obama is expected to
create a legacy, in America, rooting not on his identity, but on his ideas.[3] Moreover,
given the fact that Obama did a little better among white men in this election
than he did during the presidential elections in 2008 provides him with an
incentive to bridge the racial divide.
Much as people expect Obama to show real
leadership, they also expect Republicans to support Obama in his effort to
address both economic and social issues. In other words, they should try and
close the ideological divide as well. It is worth mentioning that there is
bitterness because of the personal attacks by both political parties during the
political campaigns. I may be wrong, but I believe that the large turnout of
African Americans and Hispanics was in response to the personal attacks on
Obama. Romney surrogate Sununu former Governor of New Hampshire’s scatting comments
about Obama’s poor performance in the first presidential debate, to the extent
of calling Obama “lazy” and "Frankly, when you take a look at Colin
Powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or
whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring President
Obama".[4]
Similarly, Ann Coulter’s characterization of Obama as “retarded” probably
angered most African-Americans, who see Obama as a visionary leader.
Obama’s use of negative campaign was
more against Romney’s past business policy rather than his race or personality.
Apart from his flip flops on issues ranging from universal health care to
defence, his secretly taped comments about the 47% population became a useful
tool for Obama to define Romney as one who cared only for the rich, as against
Obama being perceived as someone fighting the common course for the poor in the
US.
Work Cited
CNN: Article Obama makes history, again http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/07/politics/obama-identity/index.html
CNN: Article Parallels to country’s racist past haunt age of Obama: http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/01/parallels-to-countrys-racist-past-haunt-age-of-obama/
CNN Race Polls: http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/race/president#exit-polls
CNN: Article Sununu’s comment insults black Americans: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/26/opinion/martin-sununu-race/index.html
[1]
Obama makes history, again: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/07/politics/obama-identity/index.html
[2] Ibid
[3]
Obama makes history, again: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/07/politics/obama-identity/index.html
[4]
Sununu’s comment insults black Americanshttp://www.cnn.com/2012/10/26/opinion/martin-sununu-race/index.html
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