Black enough for you, apparently

Remember when questioning Obama’s racial authenticity was all the rage?

Perhaps the most absurd question Obama has been asked so far has had more to do with identity politics than presidential politics: Senator Obama, when did you decide you were black?

That was the question 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft posed to Obama in an interview that aired on Sunday. Kroft asked the biracial senator why he considered himself black even though he was raised in a white household. Obama responded by telling Kroft that he never decided to be black: “I think if you look African-American in this society, you’re treated as an African-American.”

Kroft isn’t the first journalist to ask, implicitly or not, whether Obama is black enough. A Los Angeles Times editorial on Tuesday asked “is Obama really black?”, while New York Daily News columnist Stanley Crouch asserted in November that “other than color, Obama did not — does not — share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves … So when black Americans refer to Obama as ‘one of us,’ I do not know what they are talking about.”

Asked and answered:

President-Elect Obama attracted 43 per cent of the white vote, with 55 per cent backing John McCain.

But because white voters make up an ever-decreasing percentage of the total, Mr Obama still achieved an overwhelming victory because he attracted 95 per cent of the black vote and two thirds of Hispanic and Asian voters.

Black and ethnic minority voters accounted for 26 per cent of all votes cast in the election. As recently as 2000, they made up just 19 per cent of voters.

The (black) people have spoken.

Smarter media, please.

Add: The best response, however - and the proper emphasis - comes from Earl Dunovant at P6:

Obama has challenged me to rethink what is possible in this country. That is, what is possible for an african american individual to achieve in a country full of bigots.

This man and his staff ran an inclusive, high road campaign, in an extremely hostile, bigoted, and partisan environment. He achieved this with self-discipline, hard work, and a strategic vision.

A black man with the name “Hussein” made it to the top. Suddenly, those boulders I see in my way don’t seem so unclimbable.

He is both an inspiration and an admonishment to rise.

This by keto, in response to a question submariner asked in the comments.

I wish I could magically summon tourists to read this. It’s visceral proof that, though the Black communities turned with almost a single mind to vote for Obama, the idea that we voted for him because he is Black is simply wrong.

We voted for him because WE are Black.

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