Barack Obama and the Deracialization

Barack Obama and the Deracialization Theory

The history of the United States has marked some of the most interesting and at the same time challenging events of the democratic process. It saw the breakup from an empire, a war of independence from what would eventually be considered a colonial system and a world order. It faced civil war which took the lives of thousands, ending in an attempt to reconstruct an entire country on the precepts of the Reconstruction Era in the 19th century. Most importantly however, the United States has been the scene of the emergence of civil rights as a doctrine and as a practice. The right of the individual to be a free man, in search of a good and happy life was indeed a revolution at the moment when it became enshrined in the national Constitution. Regardless however of these extraordinary events which marked the history of democracy, the United States, to this day, fails in perfectly integrating all its citizens. In this respect, the African-American issue has marked a troubled time in the history of the U.S.

Despite slavery in the 18th and 19th century, and given the serious debates that took place throughout this time to offer those inalienable rights to every individual, regardless of race or skin color, the situation of African-Americans in the United States points out the practice of democracy in its purest form. The most eloquent example in this sense is the current administration of Barack Obama as the first African-American acting president of the United States.

This research paper focuses on the way in which Barack Obama succeeded in over passing the race barrier and being elected in the highest position of the U.S. administration. Changes in the mentality of people do not happen overnight. Especially in terms of race, these changes need time to mature and to become embodied in the deepest conscience of every individual. Given the historical background of the American voter, it was rather hard to ascertain fifty years before the 2008 elections that an African-American candidate would even be standing in that position, let alone outrun a traditional, white republican candidate. Even so, in 2008, this change took place at the voice of the majority of Americans. However, this success is attributed partly to the extraordinary qualities of Barack Obama as a politician, partly to the support of his party, but one of the most important elements of his campaign and his presidential approach was the Deracialization Theory. Therefore, the present research endeavor will focus on the meaning of the theory, purpose, aims, successes, and failures. More importantly it will point out the role it played in the election of Barack Obama. All these aspects will derive from the answer to a simple question, with complex reverberations. Thus, the research paper will address the way in which the usage of the Deracialization Theory was essential for Obama to win the 2008 elections.

The rationale for the research relies mostly on the way in which Black politicians, such as Barack Obama or Jesse Jackson perform in election. Given the racial background of the country it is important and at the same time interesting to see the extent to which approaches tend to change in order to win power in a state or country. From this point-of-view, the applicability of the deracialization theory is important to note in the presidential elections. It offers the perspective on the American society on the one hand, and on the presidential campaigns and rationale on the other.

Thus, the research question revolves around the idea that the deracialization theory considerably improved the chances of Barack Obama to win the elections. However, even if this theory and approach was used before by Black politicians, it did not always provide positive outcomes. Some examples include Jesse Jackson or Shirley Chisolm. Therefore, additional input from the actual beliefs of Obama which were sensitive issues for the American public, such as health care or the war in Iraq, represented strong points which influenced the voters' choice. Even so, the deracialization theory, through its own rationale and approach represented a crucial element in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Chapter 2 Review of Literature

The 2008 elections in the United States represent one of the most interesting and at the same time hard to predict presidential races in the history of the nation. It is interesting because there is a definite chance that one group which represented a reason for civil rights movement or the emancipation movement to be in the final race for the White House. Therefore, it can be said that the 2008 presidential elections represented an exercise of democracy particularly because all major groups were represented and each candidate had a real chance of receiving the nomination for the final round of elections.

The background for the 2008 elections was well defined by three main candidates, a Republican in the person of John McCain, and two Democrats, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. At the same time however, other minorities were represented in the race, such as the Latino minority through the candidacy of Bill Richardson

. The representation of the most important groups in the society was very important particularly at that moment in time. It is rather well-known the fact that "the historical context in which a campaign is waged impacts its substance, pushing various domestic and foreign issues into greater or lesser prominence

" Therefore, the historical context impacted to a large extent the way in which the campaigns were led and would be conducted up to the November 2008 elections. From this point-of-view, the requests of the electorate demanded that more attention be paid on the internal issues rather than the external aspects of politics. Therefore, issues such as immigration, the health care system, or education represented important issues which are tackled by all the candidates involved in the race.

In that political context, the leverage would consist in the way in which each candidate would benefit from the personal characteristics and the way in which the voters could be influenced to choose one side and not the other. From this point-of-view, the strategy of Barack Obama proved decisive. This is largely due to the fact that in his capacity as an African-American representative, he did have an advantage on the black community voters. However, he was forced to win white voters as well, both to offer him legitimacy for his future mandate and to actually ensure his victory in the elections.

The Deracialization theory first appeared in the 1970s. More precisely, it was introduced by Charles Hamilton in 1973 at a National Urban League meeting

. This main argument included the belief that the African-American political discourse, unlike the times of Malcom X and Martin Luther King, can focus more on neutral aspects of politics rather than to merge on racial differences. This was indeed an important change in perspective because it offered the Black American politician a platform for appealing to the white voters. The political discourse was doubled by a public appearance strategy which included neutral environments rather than black majority communities. This was not to deny the black origins but rather to exclude discussions based on racial differences or racially bias premises.

Given the importance of this theory for the political life in America, Huey Perry presents in his "Race, politics, and governance in the United States" (1996) an analysis on the way in which racial perspectives and the input of the deracialization theory impacted the elections in the U.S. In this sense, he points on the actual meaning of the term, which in his acceptation is a rather complex issue. More precisely, "Deracialization, as applied to American electoral politics, is the conduction of an electoral campaign in which racial issues and themes are minimized, if not avoided, in order to attract increased white electoral support"

. Furthermore, Perry examines the role this practice played in the 1989 elections when black politicians were elected or reelected to public office. This is an important turn in history largely due to the historical background of the country but also from the perspective of the political situation between the Republicans and Democrats.

The most important position in the American state of President is at this time occupied by an African-American. From this point-of-view, what is most important both for the research theme and for the way in which the deracialization theory played a role in American politics represents the actual means through which the Obama campaign was focused on the issue of race, or more precisely on non-race issues. In this sense, the contribution of Heather E. Harris is significant. Thus, in her book, "The Obama Effect: Multidisciplinary Renderings of the 2008 Campaign," she points out the reverberations of the 2008 campaign that are visible to this day in American politics.

Moreover, she points out the way in which Obama joggled with the defining terms of the deracialization theory in order to benefit to the fullest from its structure. While such elements are presented throughout analyses made on the Obama strategy to win the 2008 campaign, Harris also points out the core element of the shortcomings of this theory. More precisely, "color blind racism created a paradox for presidential candidate Barack Obama. While he could not escape "race" his candidacy strategically figured "race" through color blind rhetoric that contained the threat of a black presidency. In spite of his campaign's efforts to avoid his racialization, "Obama" was alternately racialised and deracialized through his affective ties

The tactics used by Obama through the application of the deracialization theory may have its shortcomings. Some, as presented above include the lack of cohesion between being neutral in its gender and not being able to be perceived other than as an African-American. Another shortcoming of deciding to adopt a new stand, as an African-American, on politics is the fact that most advocates of African-American politics may consider a sign of betrayal for the way in which black politics is conducted for decades. More precisely, an interesting point was raised by Georgia Anne Persons (ed) in her book on black politics, "The expanding boundaries of Black politics." The book in itself represents the conclusions of a national conference on black politics held in 2006. Indeed, at that time the issue of deracialization was not as debated as nowadays from the simple fact that even if there were numerous black Americans that had won public office in the last decades, none had actually achieved the presidency yet. However, her insight is important because it presents the point-of-view of several national acclaimed scholars in black politics who agreed that, indeed, the promotion of a certain type of black policy, even if it tends to be race blind, automatically excludes other issues affecting the black community. As an example, the editor marked the struggle for the African-American to gain equal rights in politics and fair representativeness. At that time however, in the 1980s, these subjects caught the attention of the media and the politicians and aspects such as the HIV / AIDS battle facing the African-American communities was no longer the most important element to negotiate or deal with . Therefore, from this point-of-view, it can be said that the issue of deracialization can encompass several shortcomings which may resemble to the effects positive discrimination practices had on the society.

Finally, one of the most interesting sources in terms of actual policy and statements is the actual speeches and addresses made public by candidate and president Obama. In this era of technology, the internet represents the best means to communicate worldwide, at any time, with anybody interested to search online. Therefore, one of the reliable sources for the research is the official internet page of president Obama.

Chapter 3 Methodology

Given the fact that the subject under analysis represents a current event, one which is ongoing, it is rather difficult to grasp the entire nature of the implications the deracialization theory had on the way in which the Obama campaign was effective or not. Indeed, at a first glance, especially after the end of the elections, it can be pointed out that the theory was effective and efficient. However, when discussing issues related to history, the final result cannot be ascertain but decades later. In a first analysis, indeed, the theory marked one of the most important events in the history of the United States: the first African-American to become president of the U.S. Still, further analysis must be conducted in the future in order to properly establish if this result is the outcome of mere theory application or whether Obama's personal abilities together with a particular historical context and social issues influenced the final result.

In spite of these variables, the present research takes into account the general view on the matter. There are several aspects to be taken into account to actually consider the way in which the applied theory had short-term effects and long-term effects. These include background information, political strategies, and, perhaps one of the most important elements, the impact on the society at large, on the long run.

Firstly, it focuses on the actual meaning of the theory, with all its historical and political implications throughout the years. This includes considerations of the theoretical aspects of the deracialization as well as examples from the political life when this theory was applied and with the respective results.

Secondly, a more in-depth analysis focuses on the actual Obama campaign, again, with all its implications. These implications include the historical background of the candidate and of the voting pool, the specificities of the theory he employed throughout his campaign. At this point, certain speeches are analyzed to identify the characterizing elements of the theory.

Thirdly, even if the Obama campaign proved to be successful in its endeavor, it is important to understand the way in which the choice of the voters was as a result of the theory and strategy applied, or, on the contrary, it resulted as a pure political choice, with a rational actor as the voters. The current polls and opinions on the Obama administration are analyzed to point out whether at this moment Barack Obama is still viewed as the phenomenon and the first African-American president or is seen as a regular democrat president. This is important because it gives an insight view on whether race matters during a presidential mandate. Given the applicability of the deracialization theory, it is obvious that race did matter during the campaign. It is important to see whether it matters during a presidential mandate.

Chapter 4 Results and findings

Subchapter 1 -- The theory

A clear definition of the deracialization theory was offered in 1993 by McCormick and Jones who define it as "conducting a campaign in a stylistic fashion that defuses the polarizing effects of race by avoiding explicit reference to race- specific issues, while at the same time emphasizing those issues that are perceived as radically transcendent, thus mobilizing a broad segment of the electorate for purposes of capturing or maintaining public office

." Better said, it includes the focalization of the discourse from a racial base to a neutral base.

Another example of defining the theory is given by Michael Fauntroy who states that "Deracialization, as applied to American electoral politics, is the conduction of an electoral campaign in which racial issues and themes are minimized, if not avoided, in order to attract increased white electoral support."

From this point-of-view, the deracialization theory is employed as a process. The candidate therefore makes a choice of orientating his campaign with a particular voter target which is in this case, the white voter. Therefore, in order to win the vote of the white community, he conducts his speeches in such a manner as to avoid any racial issues which for a white conservative voter may ne interpretable. This is also a means of protecting the candidate from actually being involved in debates which may reveal aspects which are not comfortable for the traditional black voter.

Another definition of the term focuses even more on the premeditated act of choice. More precisely, the deracialization theory, according to Hickman "forces African-American candidates to remove virtually all evidence of race as a central part of his or her being

." However, it may be that Hickman's language on this notion points out to premeditation but at the same time a necessity for the black candidate. From this point-of-view, using this practice may be a necessary issue for the black candidate and an element on which his campaign strongly relies in the face of the white voter.

The deracialization theory got the attention of the Democratic Party largely due to the more racial oriented nature of the party. In this sense, the theory in itself is more oriented towards an inclusive participatory process which takes into account minorities and less represented communities. As a result of this orientation, the theory was subject to the attention of the Democratic Party in the late 70s and concluded that "programs targeted directly at minorities failed to capture white voters"

. Therefore, the actual theory had as main and final result winning of the white votes in an attempt to gain power and consideration. From this point-of-view, all the definitions presented are somehow mixed to offer a comprehensive view of the actual rationale of the theory.

Elements of the deracialization theory

One of the main elements of the deracialization theory focuses on the belief presented by Hamilton that in order to attract white people's votes it is important to consider the broader aspects of policy and politics. In this sense, the average white voter is not particularly interested in the way in which positive discrimination for instance may improve the condition of the black American

; however, in this case, the black candidate must point out means through which actions (which may include positive discrimination) are important for a better consideration and respect for human rights in the society, and not necessarily in the black community. Therefore, one of the first aspects of deracialization is the general nature of the actions advertised during campaigns.

This notion was elaborated precisely during the times of Malcom X and Martin Luther King who were the strong supporters of issues such as positive discrimination. In order to properly understand why the theory advocates a race-neutral approach, and to demonstrate Hamilton's view that white people are not responsive to black people strong advocacy, Martin Luther King Jr. And Malcom X are relevant examples.

Martin Luther King lived in a time when social injustice against the Black population was the most important issue affecting the American society. There had been numerous debates over the proper means to respond to the injustice he considers to be "a threat to justice everywhere"

. He considers in his address that direct action, one implying defying the rule of the law, must be the final step in the actions taken to deal with injustice

. Although the path of negotiation had been seen as a means to deal with the tension rising, King considered that a sort of rebellion against the rules and norms of the city must be taken into consideration because "nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue."

Thus, his approach to the issue implies questioning the laws through non-violent means. Even so, he does foreseen the eventual gap that Hamilton advocates a decade later, between the white voters and the black politicians.

Unlike King, Malcolm X had a radical stand on the issue. As a Black Nationalist, he opposed the white rule over the black communities. His arguments advocated the political, economic, and social emancipation of the blacks who should no longer be forced to obey the white domination in communities where the rights and interests of the black population can be best served by elected black leaders. In this sense, he militated for the reconsideration of the role white political forces must have in the black neighborhoods. His attitude promotes a more radical solution for the emancipation of the blacks. Initially, he does not question the authority of the laws, but through his own language, calling the white businessman an "enemy," he suggests an offensive attitude. Malcolm X repeatedly pointed out that "the government has failed us" and thus action against this government must be taken

. That action is clearly stated through "the ballot or the bullet" policy which, in his own words means: "(…) liberty or (…) death.

" He thus considered the fight for justice and emancipation as a war "the whites cannot win" again. From this point, it is clear that throughout history, the rebellious attitude between the blacks and the whites. In this context, the white voter is obviously reluctant to any black candidate.

Given this historical context, the presentation of the deracialization theory represented an important advancement in terms of reaching out to white voters. The change in discourse was inevitable, should the results in the polling change. From this perspective, the contribution of the deracialization theory reflected mostly on the change of attitude and perception of the black candidate.

At the same time however, a new question arises on whether the change of discourse is actually a change of belief and opinion. In this sense, is the application of the deracialization theory a matter of belief or is it a method to win elections? Such a question is rather difficult to answer as there is yet little evidence that can be quantified and analyzed to make a comprehensive analysis of results. Still, despite this shortcoming, at least in theory and in official practice, the change of perspective is marked by this theory.

Examples

The 1989 brought about one of the most significant shifts in electoral trends at the end of the century in the United States. Although outnumbered in major cities such as New York, Seattle or smaller such as New Heaven, black candidates entered history by becoming chief executives of those respective jurisdictions.

The strategies used by the candidates began to modify from a race-based dialogue with the voters to a more social one, focusing on problems such as economy, housing, jobs, crimes or environment.

What candidates such as L. Douglas Wilder (Virginia), Norman Rice (Seattle, Washington), and John Daniels (New Haven, Connecticut) did was to change the voters' paradigm through changing their own speech and focus. They appealed to the basic needs and immediate troubles of the urban environment and aimed for a more consensual approach rather than, what was used in the past by black politicians, an extremist one -- such as Malcom X, presented previously. These candidates moved from the race agenda to a different kind of approach putting forward their "ample experience in office and a knack for turning minority status into a political asset"

As Mr. Wilder's race as Governor of Virginia was intense and won by a rather small difference, so was Mr. Dinkins' in New York, as Mayor of the city. A large part of the media argued in 1989 that Mr. Dinkins won the Big Apple City Hall by constructing a racial-based coalition that gave him enough momentum to win. The numbers are also important in this argument as 98% of black votes went to him and 73% of the Hispanic ones with less than 30% of the whites vote.

In a race-based dialogue, stronger than that of his other Democrat fellows like Wilder, Rice or Daniels, Dinkins managed to set himself as a compromise solution, one that would reactivate the idea of New Yorker, the idea of unity in a city more and more fragmented. Dinkins managed to ease the fears of whites in the city as to his racial background also by stating his long time experience in local and state politics and by putting this in antithesis with his opponent's perceived lack of administrative background.

One of the most important strategies used by Dinkins was short, to the point proposals that were out of the classical Democratic agenda and especially not in the "black speech." For example, as he mentioned that more policemen are needed on the streets of New York and in its subway system, he constructed himself as a politician that white man could vote for. The strategy that Dinkins used offered him not only a larger percentage of the white votes (almost 30%) but also an overall image of a "mayor for all" than just one of the minorities, be them black or Hispanic.

Douglas Wilder's Virginia gubernatorial campaign was, to some extent, even more strategized into winning the white vote as Dinkins'. As Jones and Clemons argue in 1993, Wilder went on to get the white vote in an aggressive manner: "between June 19 and September 4, 1989, Wilder appeared before the public 84 times (…) only ten of these appearances were before black audiences"

. The public appearance of his campaign might have been non-racial and focused on various issues such as "legislative record, and economic, educational, and environmental" but the strategy behind it was a very racial-based one. He put his focus directly on winning the white vote as well as others tried by focusing on non-racial problems. An example of this new strategy -- of using less racial flagship quests and more attention to a balanced-problem oriented approach -- were key words and references to the past. Although they made appeal to racist times' memories, these had the power to create in the minds of the voters an "if" situation - ff you do not vote for someone, the status-quo would degenerate. One of the key phrases that Mr. Wilder used in his campaign was that it was too late to go back. As Apple observed, this phrase was meant to remind the voters, be them white or black of the times "of massive resistance to integration, when schools were closed and the proud old commonwealth's reputation was corroded [suggesting] that rejection of a black man would amount to regression."

A similar group pressure can be observed in the New York case, where not choosing a black mayor might have meant for many an important fragmentation and less cooperation between communities of those cities. A colored mayor, or Governor, seemed like a compromise solution as well, not only a change of paradigm -- voting competence, not color.

Therefore, a pattern of electoral campaign can be observed in the two cases: Douglas Wilder and Davis Dinkins. They both used in creating their image previous experience as a measure of their competences; focusing on non-racial issues that had an immediate and constructive effect; or having a perceived "bridging the gap" power between the white and the black.

Similar to the two examples described above, Norman. B Rice became the first black mayor of Seattle, in the same elections of November 1989. He won by a rather large margin in a city that had a black population of only 10%, proving that a non-racial campaign was the only way to win an election in such a low classical supporters' city. He also did not portray himself as a black candidate and focused on his skills and managerial experience in Seattle as Chairman of the Finance Committee. As common for electoral strategies, he convinced the public to vote for him on the basis of past results. In his previous position he had a major role in providing a balanced budget for Seattle in the 1980s times of financial crisis. Also as Dinkins and Wilder put forward in their campaigns, Rice focused on common problems that had nothing to do with race: security. By increasing taxes to hire more police officers

Rice proved that the basic needs of humans are more important that issues like race or historical antagonism. One must not forget that in this case, race was not a significant problem. 1989 Seattle racial problems were "pretty minor because racism here is much more hidden and subtle" and therefore, a racial-based campaign would have been useless anyway.

November 1989 brought therefore a non-racial strategy that worked in cases in which any strategy seemed improbable to have any results. One should not consider this type of electoral campaigning as the only way forward in an electoral battle. As proven later in the 1990s, sometimes, racial-based campaigns work better than non-racial ones. In 1997, Harvey Johnson won the Mayor elections of Jackson, Mississippi, the first Africa American in this position. What is interesting is that the usage of a non-racial, deracialized campaign did not produce the same results as a racialized one: "the deracialized tactics employed by Johnson in 1993 produced minimal support from Whites, while gaining Johnson less than half the votes cast by blacks."

As a conclusion, a non-racial approach or a deracialized one seems to be the best solution in case of a black candidate that is aiming to win in a low black community city or region. Yet this is also subject to other important variables like context, style of leadership or characteristics of the voting poll.

Subchapter 2 Barack Obama

The 2008 elections represented an important moment in the history of the United States because of the international context and due to the public opinion's particular interest to home affairs as well as international affairs. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan were extremely intense subjects for debate as well as matters of discontent for the American public. At the same time, the international crisis was making its first marks on the American economy and the American way of life. Thus, it was relatively clear that the Republican candidate, McCain, would become the target of all failures and would therefore be sanctioned for all the shortcomings of the Bush administration.

There were several important aspects which caught the attention of the public.

The foreign policy debate is more or less of interest for the American people. Even if the issue of the war in Iraq captured the attention of the population, the candidates involved in the race had ambiguous stands. In this sense, McCain was the supporter of the war, yet his military record was placed in doubt. Hilary Clinton voted in the first instance for the intervention in the Middle East, yet afterwards she was advising a withdrawal of troops. Obama was also against the withdrawal of the troops, yet his arguments relied more on theoretical aspects rather than practical issues. Therefore, it can be said that the electoral campaign focused more on internal matters rather than foreign policy issues.

The importance of the election process is crucial in supporting the democratic system in a country. In this sense, it is argued at the highest level that "elections are the central institution of democratic representative governments (…) because, in a democracy, the authority of the government derives solely from the consent of the governed. The principal mechanism for translating that consent into governmental authority is the holding of free and fair elections"

. More precisely, it is widely considered that the elections represent the free voiced opinion of the people and represent the mechanism which makes the system function. In traditional authoritarian systems, the elections are not present inside the political system and the power of the people is not expressed in a free and direct manner. In the case of the United States, the process of the elections represents the moment in which the political leaders and persons are the most visible and can be held accountable for their actions or inactions.

One of the principles of democracy according to political science theory is the representation of the minority groups

. In this sense, "minorities- whether as a result of ethnic background, religious belief, geographic location, income level, or simply as the losers in elections of political debate- enjoy guaranteed basic human rights that no government, and no majority, elected or not, should remove"

. Therefore, the 2008 presidential elections tried to observe this rule of democracy. Thus, the black people were represented through the candidacy of Barack Obama, women's rights were of particular interest for Hilary Clinton, while the views of the tradition Republican electorate were represented through John McCain.

It is important to consider the fact that neither of these candidates tried to view their candidacy as the sole voice of a certain minority. Thus, they appealed to every segment of the society, a strategy which was also part of the democratic process. In this sense, neither of the candidates excluded the other party's special segment particularly because they were aware of the fact that the electorate would chose a candidate that would be the sole representative of the people, the one to which they could delegate the power to decide.

The race which went on between Barack Obama and John McCain revealed the attempt to consider the American society a neutral color blind society. Barrack Obama is not only an African-American but his origins are also different from the traditional presidential campaign. More precisely, he was born in Hawaii as his father is African who won a scholarship to study in the United States

. Moreover, the mix origins portrays Obama as belonging to a universal race, one which is color blind and which offers, as mentioned by Heather Harris transparency. Thus, "the presence of the mixed race Obama is claimed to achieve an 'almost perfect transparency in which color is indeed no veil over character -- where a black, like a white, can put himself forward as the individual he truly is'. Steel thus figures Obama as a transparent body that holds the potential to achieve a whiteness or blackness. Because whiteness is imagined as invisible, transparent, and unmarked, Steele invites readers to apprehend Obama not through the veil of color but rather through his almost perfect transparency"

. Therefore, similar to Martin Luther King Jr. who argued on these lines, most of the voters saw in Barack Obama a mixture of races which can coexist, give a worthy character, and thus positively influence the future.

Secondly, another major role played by race in the presidential campaign and inevitably by the presence of an African-American as a candidate for the 2008 elections was represented by the fact that the issue of race in the American society was tackled on occasions in a direct manner. Barrack Obama was without a doubt one of the most controversial figures of the campaign precisely because he is an African-American. At the same time, through his speeches and addresses he often invoked the division in the society as an aspect that the Americans must immediately deal with. In this sense, "standing before a row of eight American flags near the building where the Declaration of Independence was adopted Obama urged the nation to break 'a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years.'"

Race plays an important part for the simple fact that it is brought into the presidential discussions and that all candidates must to some extent state their opinion on the matter.

This aspects draws the campaign discussions to a point when all candidates and in the end the two remaining had to address the issues facing African-Americans. In particularly, Barack Obama was considered to be in advantage at this point because race represented an argument most African-Americans relate. This was an obvious fact and such an approach was clear in the 2006 elections when "Senator Obama off-handedly told an audience of African-Americans at a rally that they needed to vote for Mr. Ford because Mr. Obama was "lonely" in the Senate (…) because Mr. Obama was the only African-American. He was asking those voters to cast their votes -- in large measure -- on the basis of racial pride.

" Therefore, it is clear that there is a sense of solidarity among the African-Americans particularly as a result of these race-based speeches.

From this point-of-view, McCain was the representative of the traditional white politician. However, despite the fact that the white electorate tended to identify more with him than with the African-American candidate, the McCain team aims at endorsing the republican perceptions on race to the African-American audience as well. Therefore, it is quite obvious that race had become a matter of national debate.

Yet, despite the fact that race continue to play a significant role in the way in which presidential candidates prepare for the meeting with the electorate, according to certain opinion polls, race may not play such a significant role afterwards, especially concerning the messages sent across and the candidates transmitting them. In this sense, "women were no more likely than men to be comfortable voting for a woman; women over 50 were among the most skeptical of all. Blacks were no more likely than whites to be comfortable voting for a black. And seniors were less likely than the middle-aged to be comfortable voting for a 72-year-old to become preside.

The results showed however that there is a clear distinction between the society and the electorate which participated to the voting procedures decades ago and the ones expressing their votes in 2008. There is a greater degree of openness towards women and African-Americans as part of the society than it was three decades ago. The current issues as well as the polls suggest this aspect. However, the society is yet to accept a candidate who militates for gay rights and who is very vivid in expressing his personal views concerning these issues. This comes to prove that more needs to be done in order for the U.S. To become the democratic society its Constitution had set out to build. However, concerning the role race had in the elections, it offered the candidates the chance to express fully the new orientation of the American society; at the same time, it allowed the adversaries to have even more topics to discuss and attack their opponents with; still, the most important role was that they enabled the opportunity to reaffirm the stand of the political sphere concerning the issues entangled by race.