Obamas Election and Reelection as Americas First African-American President - Coursework Example

Obama’s Election and Reelection as America’s First African-American President Table of Contents Introduction 3 African-Americans in US Politics, Roots of Democratic Affiliation 3 Suffrage and the Development of Party Affiliations Among African-Americans 3 African-Americans and the Roots of Participation in Electoral Politics 5 Obama and the US Presidency 6 Conclusion 10 Works Cited 11 Introduction This paper discusses various key aspects of the election and reelection of Barack Obama as the first America’s first African-American president. This paper posits that the election and reelection of Obama in modern times is not an isolated event, but is the culmination of a long and tumultuous history of African American struggles to achieve parity in politics and parity in the way American society accords African Americans their fundamental human and civil/political rights. 1 African-Americans in US Politics, Roots of Democratic Affiliation Suffrage and the Development of Party Affiliations Among African-Americans It was during the time of the Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877 that African Americans first had the taste of being given the right to vote in America. This was, oddly enough, in partnership with the Republicans and with Abraham Lincoln being the rallying figure of the old Republican party. This party was, to African Americans of the time, the beacon of emancipatory action on their behalf. It was during this time that African Americans joined this party in droves. At first the relationship was mutually beneficial, for traditional Republicans as well as for African American Republicans. This owed to the fact that white Republicans hoped to leverage African American participation in the party for various reasons, chief among them that the Republicans yearned to establish a solid political support base consisting of African Americans in the South. These suffrage rights were short-lived, and were made short shrift with political expediency that also ended the Reconstruction period in 1877. This was partly the result of a strong backlash following what has become known as the 1877 compromise, initiated by the Republican candidate for President Rutherford Hayes. In exchange for white votes, Hayes agreed to essentially let white Americans have their way with African Americans, paving the way for that backlash of violence, hatred, and overt oppression led by the racist Ku Klux Klan. This also prompted the marginalization of African Americans into a separate Republican faction. This in turn paved the way to African Americans shifting their affiliation to the Democrats, seen evident with the strong support for the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. It is true that neither Hayes politics nor the actions of the white supremacists were primary causes for this turn of events. They were contributory, but not primary to the eventual political outcomes presented here. 2 While there seemed to be sincere efforts on the part of the Republicans to woo the African American vote away from the Democrats in the 1970’s, the ascension of Ronald Reagan and then of George Bush into power beginning in the 1980’s quelled any such hopes of a defection. This is owing to the either indifferent or negative stance of those administrations with regard to African American social and political interests. Not even the seemingly anti-African American policies and actions of the Clinton administration changed things. Such actions which included leaving welfare decisions to states that are sometimes guilty of discrimination against African Americans, did not sway the African American vote away from the Democratic party. This springs from a host of factors, including Democratic ideals that are more closely aligned with African-American interests, socialization effects, momentum, and the absence of palatable alternatives to Democratic programs, policies and platforms of governance on the Republican side. 3 African-Americans and the Roots of Participation in Electoral Politics Meanwhile, the roots of African-American participation in the executive elective posts in the American executive branch go way back, with progress for instance made by Doug Wilder in winning the post of governor of Virginia and David Dinkins being elected mayor of New York in the 1989 elections being hailed as groundbreaking developments in African American political history. Harold Washington’s mayoral electoral victory in Chicago in 1983 is part of these groundbreaking developments too. These early victories, according to the literature, signaled the beginning of a new sense of maturity in the electorate, able to transcend historical racial barriers in order to improve governance as a whole and the plight and status of African Americans in general. 4 Meanwhile the literature notes that among these groundbreaking political victories by African Americans, it is the progress made by the historical campaigning of Jesse Jackson in 1984 that is considered to be topmost in impact and significance for all African Americans. Its impact was said to be special and national in scope, and reached beyond African Americans to the whole nation. For one, he was the first person of color to successfully mount a national campaign, and in the process garnered seven million votes, breaking social conventions and achieving a redefinition of the race bounds and white consciousness of the electoral process in the US. He asserted a moral agenda that has come to be identified with African American politics, in the process of resetting and defining the nature of the dialogue about social issues in the country. He paved the way for the greater participation of other minorities in the electoral process. He is also credited with advancing the interests of African Americans within the Democratic Party. Lastly, Jackson’s campaign highlighted the value of the electoral process to advance African American interests and bring certain social issues of importance to the national agenda. 5 Obama and the US Presidency The preceding section established the historical, social and cultural roots of African-American participation in US politics, and showed how the landmark campaigns of Jesse Jackson and the victory of other African-Americans in in various state and city electoral processes opened up new possibilities for African Americans moving forward. 6 It was up to Barack Obama, then, Democrat, to exploit those opportunities, stand on the shoulders of those who went before him, and make a bold and successful bid for the presidency of the United States. It is noteworthy that at around the time when Obama was establishing roots in Chicago as a politician, in 1992, the progressive march of African Americans in politics was in full bloom. Carole Braun would become the first African American to be voted into a seat in the Senate. This in turn would pave the way for Obama’s later election into the Senate of Illinois in 1996 too, a precursor to his later ambitious bid for the top position in the American executive branch, as President of the United States. Within the bounds of Chicago politics too, there would be undercurrents that all bolstered the stock of African Americans, including Obama, such as the liberal factions within Chicago politics that differentiated themselves from the Democrats and called themselves Independents. All these would be fertile ground for Obama as he went for the moon in making a bid for the Democratic nomination to be president of the United States. 7 It is important to note that here the progress made in Chicago and nationally by African-Americans before him were important. That progress made possible the success of the modest initial political steps of Obama. This is from his establishment of a modest base in Chicago, to his eventual successful run for the Senate seat in the state in 1996. It was his political connections that allowed him access to the key political figures of the time, to be sure, but the groundwork was laid by those who came before him. As a Democrat too, he was positioned best for a seat in that part of the states that was most liberal, Hyde Park being the home of liberals and African Americans belonging with strong liberal and independent streaks. The timing was perfect, and so was the way the work of Jackson and the others made sure that Obama would be in the middle of that perfect storm that would launch him beyond the political scene of Chicago and into the national stage later on. It is true that Jacksons support of Obama was slow in coming, and here the work refers to his previous turn at the presidential campaign. 8 Prior to that too, there were aspects of his political career that presaged a wider, and more diverse African American and national audience. Leaving the safe confines of the Senate district that he represented at that time, he ran for a seat in Congress in 2000, going up against incumbent Democrat Bobby Rush, with a large following in the South Side, culturally and academically opposite from Hyde Park and the University of Chicago in every way. He would lose here by a large margin to Rush, but more importantly, that losing campaign further provided him with ammunition and wisdom with regard to the inner workings of Chicago and national politics. These would arm him in his later campaigns. Again, all of these occurred within the context of the wider acceptance of the general population towards African Americans landing the most prominent political electoral seats at the state level. It was this loss, for instance, that gave Obama keen insights into his appeal to certain voter demographics, and that includes his appeal to white voters and inverse relative lack of appeal with inner-city African- Americans. 9 One can say, moving forward to the first presidential election that Obama participated in, that he effectively took off where Jesse Jackson left, but this time he campaigned not on the basis of African American issues only, but on the basis of a wider and more inclusive agenda that did not specifically limit itself to the interests of African Americans. In this sense, Obama’s first campaign was also going against the grain of what was first established by the likes of Jesse Jackson, because he proved that an African American, for instance, could run and win on a platform that did not harken back to the old race issues and language that African Americans used to define themselves and their campaigns. By trying to address a more inclusive audience, and learning from his past campaigns in Chicago and his failure with inner-city African Americans, it was clear to Obama that what would work for him was a political position that transcended race, did not alienate white Americans, and which was more based on competence regardless of skin color. This campaign positioning is itself groundbreaking, doing away as it did with the language of the old African American politics, in favor of what works. The victory of Obama in his two campaigns for the American presidency, including the reelection, reflects the success of this positioning, and his wide appeal that transcends race and everything that race discussions represent and bring to the table. 10 A sampling of the concerns and issues that occupied critical thinking relating to Obama’s reelection bid further substantiates the new political paradigm that Obama has brought to national American political practice and discourse. In brief Obama represents the best of America’s amalgamation, having the popular support of various ethnic groups, and himself representing a mix of various races within his physical and social makeup. The popular press has hailed his victory as signaling the ascent of a new kind of America that transcends the old race issues and moves forward from that: 11 Obama, the mixed-race son of Hawaii by way of Kansas, Indonesia, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, won reelection in good part because he not only embodied but spoke to that New America, as did the Democratic Party he leads. His victorious coalition spoke for and about him: a good share of the white vote (about 45 percent in Ohio, for example); 70 percent or so of the Latino vote across the country, according to experts; 96 percent of the African-American vote; and large proportions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.12 Conclusion This paper posits that the election and reelection of Obama in modern times is not an isolated event, but is the culmination of a long and tumultuous history of African American struggles to achieve parity in politics and parity in the way American society accords African Americans their fundamental human and civil/political rights. This paper successfully showed that Obama’s victories did not occur in isolation. It is the culmination of a much larger historical trajectory, characterized by the struggles of African Americans through time to achieve equality in politics and in general American society. 13 Works Cited Fineman, H. Barack Obama Reelection Signals Rise of New America. HuffPost Politics. 2012. Web. 4 March 2013. Karenga, M. Introduction to Black Studies Third Edition. Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press. pp. 366-375. 2002. Kingkade, T. Youth Vote Critical to Obama’s Reelection: Pew Research Center Report (Infographics). HuffPost College.2012. Web. 4 March 2013. Lizza, R. The Political Scene: Making It- How Chicago Shaped Obama. The New Yorker. 2008. Web. 4 March 2013. Lyfe, I. Obama’s Reelection: Black People Too Happy, White People Too Mad…HuffPost Black Voices. 2012. Web. 4 March 2013. Read More