A different contender? Barack Obama, the 2008 presidential campaign and the racial politics of sport

Bibliographic Data

ID2146262
AuthorsMary G Mcdonald, King (0000-0002-0599-2040), Samantha King (0009-0008-6012-2022)
Year2012
Volume35
Issue6
Pages1023-1039
Publication date2012-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.2012.661932
OpenAlexW2033559423
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited21

This paper explores popular representations of Barack Obama's relationship to sport during the 2008 US presidential campaign. It delineates how white normativity framed the candidate's passion for basketball and his participation in a highly publicized bowling game. We argue that Obama's athletic activities became key vehicles for reading his body and by extension his identity and his politics. The question that could only be asked in a white supremacist context - is Obama too black or not black enough to be President? - mirrored long-standing tensions in America's affective relation to black male athletes. Representations of Obama bowling further illuminate the complicated ways in which whiteness operates. The essay concludes with a brief discussion suggesting the importance of analyses of sport for ethnic and racial studies. Keywords: WhitenessblacknessraceObamasportpresidential body Notes 1. 'Pickup' basketball is a term used mainly in North America that denotes local, loosely organized games generally played in recreational settings such as on playgrounds, within gyms or in parks. 2. Known as the Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act or Senate Bill 1070(SB1070), this law was highly criticized by opponents for allowing police to single out and racially profile Latinos and Latinas. A federal judge did subsequently block enforcement of the most controversial components of the bill including the provision that allowed law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the country without official documentation. 3. MSNBC is a cable news station known for broadcasting liberal viewpoints on political, social and economic issues. Once a speechwriter for US President Jimmy Carter and an aid to Democratic Speaker of the House Eugene 'Tip' O'Neill, Matthews hosts a weekday MSNBC talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews. The show features conversations, debates and political analysis between the host and guests regarding a wide range of issues. 4. Presidential Candidate Obama gave this speech at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 18 March 2008 at the height of the controversy regarding his relationship to his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. The title uses language from the preamble to the US Constitution and the speech spoke about the state of race relations in the USA including black inequality and white resentment

Basketball · Context (archaeology · Law enforcement · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Sociology · White (mutation · Gender Studies · History · Law · Music History and Culture · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub