Anyone else NOT shocked that the US elected an African-American president?

Not to take anything away from the historic nature of Obama’s win, but I’ve been quite surprised at the number of people who’ve expressed utter amazement and disbelief that a black man would be elected president. “I could never have imagined it,” seemed to be the common refrain in the days after the election.

I was happy and excited about Obama’s win, but shocked? No. Fourteen years before when there was talk about Colin Powell running (and polls showing he could have won if he had) I remember thinking the idea was kind of novel and exciting, and ever since then the idea had seemed perfectly possible, if not inevitable. Heck, even before then I don’t think I thought it was “impossible.”

So, yeah, I know this thread is two months late, but it would have sounded kind of churlish in the immediate aftermath of the election, and anyways, I forgot about it until I heard a woman today expressing her utter amazement about Obama’s win, and once again I found myself scratching my head…

I guess I put myself down more as mildly surprised. I sort of figured we’d have a black president at some point.

Not really. I mean, it is obviously a historic moment, but I think a black candidate could have been elected earlier if there had been a good choice with a movement around him. Obama was just the first one in that kind of position who actually *wanted *to run (as opposed to Powell or Rice).

Valete,
Vox Imperatoris

I would have called a woman or a black president inevitable 20 years ago, without having any idea how long it would take. OTOH that 4 years after Bush’s re-election a black first term senator named Hussein from a single parent family who admitted using cocaine in high school would hand the 'pubs their asses is a dream.

Yes and no. His color had nothing to do with my vote. I got really tired of hearing “is America ready for a black president” when the question should have been “is America ready for an Obama presidency.” America would never be ready for a Jesse Jackson presidency, but not so much because of his color but because of his reputation.

Still, I did marvel at the fact that 63 million plus voted for a candidate with an African father. I was worried about the so-called “Bradley Effect” and plain old racism. So in that regard, a decisive victory was meaningful and proof of the progress this country has made, imho.

When I was in Amsterdam last March I met a Dutch man who was willing to bet me a large sum of money that neither Clinton nor Obama would become president because “Americans will never elect a woman or a black man president.”

I should have taken him up on it.

Ed

“Never” is a very long time.

There have been an awful lot of black Presidents on movies and TV. Nobody seems to question this when it’s done. It’s usually not an issue in the plots. It’s always seemed like an inevitability to me.

I was mildly surprised. A person is smart, people are stupid…stupid enough to believe stereotypes.

I figured it would happen when Generation-X became the large voting block. Of course, I didn’t plan on having a completely desperate electorate either.

Yeah, I have the impression that Europeans were particularly convinced it was impossible. Makes you wonder what exactly they are taught about American society to make them so sure of this…

I heard the same thing when I was in Israel over the summer.

I wasn’t really surprised.

Nor was I surprised by the fact that he won the Iowa caucus, while so many people seemed to be absolutely stunned. We do still have a ways to go in this country, but we’ve come a lot further than some people realize.

I am fairly shocked if only for the fact that we didn’t see it coming for very long. Obama really did come out of nowhere relatively speaking. It’s also worth noting that the stars were perfectly aligned for such a thing to happen. That alone was surprising.

I think the reality is that a 2008 Obama presidency would not have happened if there was a decent White alternative in either his Senate or his Presidential race.

I was only surprised that it happened in 2008. I remember seeing Barack when he first started out (I’m from Illinois) and think he would go far. Then I saw his 2004 convention speech and thought “I bet he will be the first African-American President…in 2012 or 2016.”

I also thought a we’d see a black candidate from a major party lose the election first. Or have a black V.P.

The question now is, how long will it be before there is a woman president? I think they will be running but one won’t actually be elected for quite some time still. (I say 30 years or more)

Some Europeans may have been, but why should it have anything to do with what they’re taught? We can see you: we hear what you say. America is highly visible from almost anywhere in the world – particularly western Europe.

There’s certainly no shortage of Americans with a cynical view of US politics – that some outside observers come to similar conclusions shouldn’t be a surprise.

For a large majority of people most of it comes from American movies and TV series, the rest from the news. So what you guys are teaching us, from Roseanne to Gossip Girl.

I was not shocked.

I wonder how much of the shocked/not shocked is age-related, too.

Like I’m 17 and have very little history. I mean I know the history, but just because I’ve been told, not because I’ve seen. If I had been born in the 50s instead of the 90s, my view of the world might be different.

Are you sure?

Obama seems to be overflowing with charisma, he is an elegant speaker, and an elegant man. I think he’d give any other candidate a very close run for their money, no matter what race he or they were.

I hope so, anyway. It certainly ought to be that way.

I wasn’t surprised due to his “color”. I was a bit more surprised due to his “liberalness” and not so much experience. But I am certainly hopeful that he can and will step up to plate and be a good president and am willing to give him a chance to do so.

As others have noted, there are a fair number of other “blacks” that have damn good resume’s in one form or another and probably could have gotten elected now or before now just as well.

And I too, get a bit peeved at Europeans. I havent taken any scientific polls, but when I see their political movers and shakers on the news, that herd ain’t exactly flowing over with non-whites either.

In my local county, the heart of the south AND with plenty of racists rednecks, our most popular county commisioner was a black man. He got things done (in a good way) and it wasn’t long before the rednecks were behind him just as much as any black man. And this was twenty odd years ago!

I think part of the problem is folks tend to equate all racism equally. There is probably still way too much off color joke telling, not in my neighborhood, and not my daughter thinking going on. But the days of giving black students poor grades on purpose, boycotting black owned businesses, refusing to see a black man for worth regardless of his accomplishments passed for most people a fair while ago in my opinion.

Most people today just want to get along with their day to day living and at the very least don’t have the time, energy, or inclination for active racism anymore.

For me there was uncertainty about the way it would go. Most of the people that I encounter on a daily basis did not factor race into their decision (or didn’t express it if they did). Some of those just wouldn’t vote for a Democrat. On the other hand, I have extended family in a rural area that was pretty clear that race was the reason they would not vote for him. I really didn’t know which view would win out from behind the privacy of the voting booth.