The Last Black President

For months the world media asked whether America was ready to elect an African-American to the White House, the 2008 Democratic candidate received 43 percent of the white vote, more than his predecessors Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Clinton in 1992, Walter Mondale, in 1984, or Michael Dukakis in 1988. If no one knows today whether Obama will live in history as the president of change, his election itself testifies to the undeniable changes accomplished by Americans during the past thirty years.

We used the “Bradley Effect” to represent the unfortunate destiny of black candidates. The expression refers to the 1982 defeat of the black mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley, in his run for the governorship of California. The final polls gave him an 8-point lead over his white Republican adversary, who finally carried the election. The white electorate gave a politically correct response to the pollsters, afraid to seem racist.

Obsessed by the Bradley Effect, the media was blind to the “Huxtable Effect” in the hearts of the millennium generation. It demonstrates the effect of the Cosby Show on cultural attitudes. Carried on NBC during the 1980’s, this television series brought us a middle class black family, the Huxtables, who became an icon of success and stability. And it is that generation, both children and adolescents, who watched the series the most, and were Obama’s primary supporters.

A Chicago Sun-Times journalist explains that, while waiting in line to vote, she heard a group of 20-year-olds talking about their memories of the Cosby Show, and affirming that they would have liked, as children, to have had a father like Heathcliff Huxtable. None of the young people were African-American.

This anecdote represents post-racial changes in American society, with younger generations naturally able to identify with people of another race. If journalists displayed surprise at Obama’s success, it’s because most of them are not from the Cosby generation, but from the Cleaver generation. Ward Cleaver was the father in the Leave It to Beaver sitcom, representing the typical American father from the 1950’s.

It’s a false prediction – in becoming the first black president of the United States on January 20th, it could be that Obama will also be the last black president. Initiating a new chapter in American history, the new president is the child of Martin Luther King’s dream: that all citizens be judged not on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character.

The majority of Americans voted for the democratic candidate because they believed he would best extricate them from the current crisis, and not because of his partial heritage. An atypical candidate, his mandate, carved in the presidential tradition, will fade the impact of color, and surmount the racial divide. Already we are talking less about the Obama “team.” In a few weeks, the attention of the media will be focused on his first actions, his reforms, on his first mistakes. References to color will be forgotten. With this new attitude, future generations will view Obama not as the first black president, but ultimately as the 44th president in American history.

The current social and economic crisis gives merit to Obama’s rise, as, during his career, he continually substituted the social question for the racial one. On September 5th, 2005, while in Houston meeting victims of Hurricane Katrina, he rejected the argument that Bush acted too slowly because the victims were black.

He pointed out the irresponsibility of the federal government and the Republican administration’s indifference toward the problems of poverty and the nation’s disenfranchised. During his term, Obama intends to insist on the importance of public investment in education, health and social protection. These programs will surely serve to surmount the abyss between the white majority and the minorities, even though they will not be conceived specifically for the latter (“race specific”).

Obama’s speaking for the need to pass from a legal reasoning to a social one seems to be shared, in part, by the foremost black organization. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People realized early on that African-Americans were among the first to be affected by the subprime crisis.

Some may expect that color consciousness will be totally erased. The way Obama achieved his victory was much less post-racial than his campaign speeches. His multi-racial heritage allows each community to identify with him– he was black among southern blacks and presented his Kansas roots when touring the midwest.

More multi-cultural than post-cultural, Obama set out to prove to each segment of the electorate that he identified with them. There is always a disconnect between the American dream – according to Obama supporters, “Race Does Not Matter” – and American reality. One in nine young blacks, from 20 to 34 years old, are in prison, compared to one in 106 whites. Let no one think that having a black president serves as an excuse to abandon the fight against racial discrimination. (Is it pertinent to bring up the persistence of injustice linked to racial identity as a black ascends to the highest office?) And let us continue to denounce the politics of tokenism, which turns one positive outcome for minorities into an illusion of global progress.