Can Obama Deal with Race While He's in Office?

THIS WEEK, Stephen was asked to comment on President Obama's demeanor in his recent media appearances and strategies to win support for the administration's economic plan. Ultimately, the question was: Is Barack Obama still in campaign mode?

That is a question that has been surfacing almost since Obama took office. But to us, there is a related question involved: Can Barack Obama stop putting race on the back burner to maintain the support of moderate Whites?

During the campaign, it was a clear strategy to steer clear of any racial politics so as not to appear to be "the Black candidate." Obama's historic speech on race just over a year ago was a reluctant response to the Jeremiah Wright fervor -- a controversy that, in part, harmed Obama because it highlighted his race. The skill with which Obama dealt with that controversy allowed him to "move on," meaning stop talking about issues that are of disproportionate concern to communities of color or that have race as a fundamental component.

Now that he is president, not much has changed. After his first press conference, there were reports that the members of the Black press, while invited to attend, were upset, feeling that they were mostly ornamental. THIS WEEK, the tone shifted greatly, after Obama gave a question to a member of the Black press during his prime-time press conference. An early question went to Kevin Chappell of Ebony, who asked about homelessness, which is certainly not a situation unique to communities of color (especially in the current economic climate, which was the impetus for Chappell's question), though about half of America's homeless are African American, which is vastly disproportionate to the percentage of African Americans (less than 12%) in the country. Obama's answer did not include any discussion of race whatsoever.

Perhaps it shoudn't have. Perhaps that the presidents decision to avoid any mention of race is evidence that America is truly becoming "post-racial." After all, suffering knows no color. Why should race come into play at all?

The problem is that Obama is smarter than that. He understands that ignoring the racial element of America's problems does not mean that there is no racial element. He has been clear in his writing and speaking that racial issues must be addressed directly and courageously. It's clear that he does not believe this is the time or place for such conversations to occur.

The question that immediately followed Chappell's came from ABC News's Ann Compton, who quite directly asked the question that perhaps only could be asked by a White reporter (lest claims of "racism" be tossed about by White conservatives):

"Yours is a rather historic presidency, and I’m just wondering whether in any of the policy debates that you’ve had within the White House, the issue of race has come up, or whether it has in the way you feel you’ve been perceived by other leaders or by the American people. Or have the last 64 days been a relatively color-blind time?"

The president gave a very short answer that essentially dismissed the issue altogether. Noting that the inauguration was indeed an historic time, Obama said that the issues he faces affect people of all races.

Well, of course, that's very true. It was true of his predecessor, and of the forty-two presidents before him. But Compton's question is interesting nonetheless, yet went unanswered. And it's probably for the best. It very well might have been a "gotcha" question. There are millions of Whites for whom Obama's election is repulsive. There are millions beyond that who, consciously or subconsciously, believe the Black folks look out for their own (unlike Whites, who care about everyone), and who are waiting for evidence that he is giving preferential time, attention and consideration to "his people."

But there are a lot of us who hope that progress toward racial justice can be made with an administration headed up by a person who is not only Black, but is more thoughtful about the complexities of race than any of his predecessors have been. Right after the election, Cornel West told Democracy Now's Amy Goodman that he hoped Obama would be a "progressive Abraham Lincoln" and that West aspires "to be the Frederick Douglass" to put pressure on Obama. On the other side, however, that potential is constrained by external parameters that range from political opponents to the realities of maintaining widespread public support at a time of national crisis.



So what's a president to do? We have believed for some time that Obama's real work on racial justice is likely to come after his presidency has ended (whether that's after one term or two) because, as the first Black president, he will feel as if he needs to not appear to be "too Black."

In that way, Obama certainly is still in campaign mode.