Quote Originally Posted by Burney View Post
Well of course Obama's election was fuelled by racism, but in a slightly different way. Basically, as you say, his only USP was being black. This meant that nearly all black people and vast numbers of white people who wanted to show they weren't racist voted for him not because of his perceived ability, but because of his skin colour. Equally, his race meant he was horribly over-hyped to the point where it was assumed he would fart thunder and shít lightning. When he singly failed so to do, it was inevitable that disillusionment set in.

Essentially, the rule is that if you're going to play on your race to get into the White House, don't then be surprised that race is a political issue.
I think we drastically underestimate the extent to which race is always going to be an issue in US politics. As a social issue it is off the charts in terms of our own issues.

It is a little unfair to say he had nothing but race on his side. National politics is performance and he was more than capable of that, particularly when you look at who he ran against.

Trump v Obama would have been a great campaign.....