AMS 201

A post racial politician would be a politician that is able to avoid racial preference, discrimination, and prejudice because they would not be judge, ridicule, or questioned due to their race. This politician is not Barack Obama. While Obama does not have to build his campaign around his race he still endures criticism for his ethnicity. He still has to face issues that deal with his racial background. While his race was not the determining factor in the 2008 election it did lead to his lost in the 2000 election.

In the 2000 and 2008 election Barack Obama ran a de-racialized campaign. He said there is “no black and white America”. He called for unity to help rebuild America in both campaigns. However, in 2000 Barack Obama ran against Bobby Rush, a very strong African-American candidate that had strong roots with the black community in the inner cities of Chicago. Rush had the entire African-American community behind him while Barack Obama avoided racial questions because he instead called for unity. Since Obama didn’t confront the racial issues Rush and majority of the African-Americans in Chicago questioned if Barack Obama was sufficiently rooted in Chicago's black neighborhoods. Because he never refuted Rush’s comments Obama did not gain majority of the African-American vote which caused him to lose the election.

By the 2008 election Obama was able to build a stronger group of supporters. He built a strong relationship with white and African-American progressives. He set roots in Chicago and made a name for himself as a senator. Barack Obama also went on a trip to