Word: racially
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Since his early days as an Illinois state senator, Obama’s political messages have been broadly directed at all racial and ethnic groups. He has consistently promoted the idea that whites, blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans can unite in pursuit of common goals. He maintains that if political speeches are tailored solely to white audiences, people of color will draw back, just as whites often recoil when speeches are targeted to racial minority audiences...
According to Obama, the challenge lies in articulating problems and seeking resolutions that attract the attention of all racial and ethnic groups, such that individuals across groups are able to recognize their mutual interests in working with, and not against, one another in the political arena. When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004, these messages of racial harmony resonated across the state, even in the conservative, largely white areas of down state Illinois. As Obama spoke, people listened not simply because of his eloquence or rhetorical skill, or the refreshing appeal of his message, but in large part...
Obama’s campaign for the U.S. Senate in Illinois was not unlike the impressive victory of Deval L. Patrick ‘78 in the recent gubernatorial election in Massachusetts. Like Obama, Patrick’s win was cemented by his great appeal across economic, racial, ethnic, and ideological lines, thereby dramatically demonstrating that a black politician can indeed generate widespread support. It solidified the contention that a politician’s message, not his or her race, is of primary importance...
Even Jesse Jackson, who is often viewed as a polarizing figure, transcended the racial divide with his stunning upset of Michael Dukakis in the 1988 Michigan caucus. Not only did he win landslide victories in Detroit, but he also drew a surprising measure of white support in the Upper Peninsula, and in cities like Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, and Saginaw. Like Patrick and Obama, Jackson’s popularity was based on the broad appeal of his message, which focused on jobs, a higher minimum wage, education, housing, and day care for working women. These examples reveal that black candidates...
...American identity today? Historically, the defining characteristic has been any person born in America who is of African ancestry, however remote. This is the infamous one-drop rule, invented and imposed by white racists until the middle of the 20th century. As with so many other areas of ethno-racial relations, African Americans turned this racist doctrine to their own ends. What to racist whites was a stain of impurity became a badge of pride. More significantly, what for whites was a means of exclusion was transformed by blacks into a glorious principle of inclusion. The absurdity of defining someone...