Abstract

By the time this article sees print, our eyes will have blurred from reading that Barack Obama, the first African American to win the presidential nomination of a major party, has accomplished a feat that many Americans would not have believed possible in their lifetime. Whether he wins or not, the campaign for the office of the presidency is symbolic in itself, and the issue of race heightened the Obama campaign's emotional and symbolic resonance. Obama simultaneously cast himself as black and postracial—or, better, as a black candidate looking toward a postracial future. He frequently cites his biracial heritage, moving audiences to tears with stories of his Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas. His "change" message emphasizes the dream that America can transcend race and calls for a shift (partially generational) away from the old mind-set of divisiveness (black/white, red state/blue state) and toward a new consensus that will unite (to quote from Obama's South Carolina victory speech) "the most diverse coalition of Americans we've seen in a long, long time. They are young and old; rich and poor. They are black and white; Latino and Asian. They are Democrats from Des Moines and Independents from Concord; Republicans from rural Nevada and young people across this country who've never had a reason to participate until now."

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