“My president is black; I don’t have to pay my mortgage…. damn, I better not have to pay my mortgage.”

Said partly in jest by a young, African-American male at a results-watching gathering in Harlem, the comment addresses the phenomenon Andrew quite nicely described: there is some belief (largely among minorities) that racial barriers have weakened and representation has increased in the aftermath of the Obama victory. There is also a belief that Obama is somewhat of a superstar, an ordinary guy who has come from out of left field to solve all the problems of the world -- by day he will find a solution to global warming and by night he’ll travel the country paying the mortgage of the male in Harlem and putting a check in the mailbox of each struggling new family in Detroit. Expectations are very high. Warner suggests individuals are seeing his family and their accomplishments in a more positive light now (as in “Wow, this is what I could have done if I partied less or stayed true to myself”), but when the envy hits, if it has not hit yet, I predict it will hard. The closeness many now feel with the family, whether it be because Obama went to Occidental before making it to the Ivy League or because the children seem like happy, ordinary girls who roll their eyes at daddy’s speeches or rock out to the Jonas Brothers, or even because it seems as though we have a president and first lady who “look” in love, it seems that this closeness Warner describes plays a role in allowing Obama’s celebrity status to continue.

No one thinks the family they know and trust will have problems behind closed doors and no one really expects Obama to “screw up.” In my experience as a member of the African-American community, it is obvious that many think descriptive representation is a reality and that racial background means Obama will have their backs, if you will. When he takes action that alters these beliefs, there will be disappointment, a re-assessment of expectations and a change in one’s view of the ordinary man. It is this re-assessment (rather than the constant comparison going on now) that seems as though it will be most beneficial.

-- UchechiAmadi - 12 Feb 2009