Obama Studies' in Its Infancy
Books on Obama, Race, and the 2008 Presidential Election
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2135317 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael P Jeffries (Wellesley College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 403-415 |
| Publication date | 2010-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Du Bois Review Social Science Research on Race (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1742-058X • E-ISSN: 1742-0598 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1742058x10000354 |
| OpenAlex | W2120299076 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
At the conclusion of Barack Obama's State of the Union address on January 27, 2010, MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews lavished praise on the president, infamously gushing, "It's interesting: he is post-racial, by appearances. I forgot he was Black tonight for an hour." According to many, this is the greatest of all Obama's super-powers; the ability to sweet-talk the public into a euphoric political hallucination, transporting followers into a world where he is cleansed of the stain of Blackness and the citizenry lives in racial harmony. If this is true, White voters, including Matthews, forgot Obama was Black long before the State the Union. By many accounts, this post-racial amnesia, rather than the nuts and bolts of voter mobilization, fundraising, message-crafting, or opponents' mistakes, ultimately resulted in Obama's victory in the 2008 election
Art · Cabinet (room · Harmony (color · Political science · Politics · Praise · State (computer science · Victory · Visual arts · Critical Race Theory in Education · Law · Psychology · Race, History, and American Society · Social Psychology
| Highly cited | No |
|---|