Obama's Campaign and Colorblindness

The discussion about Obama (both in class on Friday and on the blog) has been fascinating.  I think that Obama has handled the “issue” of being black very well.  If he had come off as “too black” as in he overemphasized his blackness or spoke out against white supremacy he would have been heavily criticized.  Alternatively, he could have ignored his race entirely, but this would not have come across very well either. I certainly think that he is a symbol of progress for the African American community, but I think that his campaign also shows us how far we still have to go in terms of racial equality.

We (as a society) have an idea of what a president should look like.  Before Obama, it has always been a middle aged, straight, white male from an elite educational background.  While these are certainly not legal “requirements” of being president they are what is expected.  Obama challenged this image of what the president looks by challenging the norm simply by being black.  I remember during his 2008 campaign (and too and extent during his 2012 campaign) people questioning Obama’s experience.  While this generally happens with candidate, Obama was being especially scrutinized.  People were questioning whether his work experience would make him a good president, even though his background is very similar to previous presidents.  While this is not that surprising, what was more shocking was that people questioned whether or not he was eligible (not qualified) to be the president.  If you will remember, people kept demanding to see his birth certificate because they claimed that he was not even a U.S. citizen.  At the same time that these conversations were happening, I remember people suggesting that Arnold Schwarzenegger should run, even though he was born in Austria (meaning that he will never be eligible to be president).  Many people claim to be colorblind, but I think that this is a clear example of how we are not a colorblind nation.  I do not think that Obama’s citizenship would have been questioned if he was a white male whose father happened to be a different nationality, though this sort of speculation is not productive. When someone other than a white male is (or tries to be) our president, there is massive backlash and questioning of their qualifications.

The fact that progress has been made is undeniable, but we still have so far to go. I do not think that Obama is only a symbolic representation of the civil rights movement (he’s definitely not a sign of the end of the movement), but also a sign that the movement continues today, as evidenced by the speculation of his campaign  I would like to think that Obama has opened doors for other diversity (women, other races/ethnicities, etc.)  in the white house.  Do you think that by breaking the norm of what a president is Obama has begun a reconstruction of our ideas of what a president looks like?  Do you think we can get to a point where a “diverse” candidate is not questioned about citizenship or qualifications, but is questioned mainly on their politics?