What I’m saying is that the American electorate is notoriously racist, and it’s no coincidence that the first non-white President had a lifetime of immersion among white people. His appeal to white voters would have been more limited if he didn’t look, speak and act in ways we have been conditioned to think of as belonging to the dominant culture.
That’s not to say Obama hasn’t faced a lifetime of discrimination based on the color of his skin or that he isn’t an authentic black man. But an equally intelligent and qualified candidate wouldn’t have made it nearly as far if he had, say, spoken with a strong Harlem accent or sported an Afro. There’s a limit to how much “blackness” the American voters will accept.
