# Is Barack Obama really black? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 21, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236 "2009-01-21T00:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/61 "2009-01-21T20:41:45Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The entity which Obama is currently President of did not come into being until 1948, when Hawai’i became a state… 😉 Hawaii was admitted to the Union on August 21, 1959. Carry on. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/62 "2009-01-21T22:11:37Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Hawaii was admitted to the Union on August 21, 1959. > > Carry on. > > 😃 Damn you, sort-of- **Gaudere**! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/63 "2009-01-21T22:45:40Z")
I seem to recall that when GWB began as President, he immediately took a three month holiday. As long as Obama doesn’t do anything as equally boneheadedly self involved, it’s already an improvement on the previous administration. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/64 "2009-01-22T00:01:25Z")
Imagine what he might have effed up if he’d been _working_ for those three months. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/65 "2009-01-22T00:10:34Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Imagine what he might have effed up if he’d been _working_ for those three months. So you’re saying he took Cheney with him? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/66 "2009-01-22T00:18:37Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > So, just to be clear, you would have liked commentators at the inauguration of the first black president to be more discreet about the fact that it was the inauguration of the first black president. > > Other than the simple annoyance of repetition of _anything_ by talking heads trying to fill airtime (Wolf Blitzer, at one point, commented favourably upon Obama’s penmanship), I don’t get this sentiment. His blackness is not his primary defining characteristic, nor was it the deciding consideration either way for many and probably most voters. Perhaps if you’d consider rephrasing that as "first President who happens to be black’, you’d get closer to understanding the situation. Good to see you’ve apparently outgrown your onetime habitual US-bashing, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/67 "2009-01-22T00:22:33Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > So you’re saying he took Cheney with him? To a secret, undisclosed, underground penthouse. ---
**Author:** ![papaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@papaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papaw)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/68 "2009-01-22T11:16:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Actually, he’s Hawaiian. Then I must be African since I lived in Africa ( Tanzania ) for 4 years. HMMMM. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/69 "2009-01-22T12:05:15Z")
> [@papaw](#): > > Then I must be African since I lived in Africa ( Tanzania ) for 4 years. HMMMM. Were you born in Tanzania? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/70 "2009-01-22T18:10:24Z")
All I know is “Black Man in White House” would have made a great headline on Wednesday morning. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/71 "2009-01-22T18:56:59Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > The only thing that annoyed me a little bit about the coverage was that the only people I saw being interviewed were African-Americans and civil rights pioneers. The rest of us are happy and proud of this moment as well! > > Ed I was interviewed out here, it made the 6 o’clock news. I glow in the dark with whiteness. No, you get no link 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/72 "2009-01-22T20:43:21Z")
[Billy Paul wants to have a word with you.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNcrvRmBGag) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236/73 "2009-01-23T07:11:25Z")
> [@papaw](#): > > > [@GuanoLad](#): > > > > Actually, he’s Hawaiian. > > Then I must be African since I lived in Africa ( Tanzania ) for 4 years. HMMMM. Well, Africa is a continent made up of a lot of countries, and Hawaii is a State within a country, so I’m not sure if that equates. Plus, Obama was _born_ in Hawaii, he didn’t just visit there. Not that it matters, as I was just joking around anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-barack-obama-really-black/482236.md?page=3)