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With all of the debate going around about healthcare reform, cap and trade, the effects of the stimulus bill, and other spending programs of the Obama administration, one small point has been lost.

Barack Obama is the first African-American president of the United States. If he fails, he may very well be the last.

I say this while looking at how politics works in the United States. For all the talk about how transformative Obama's election was, and it was historic ... in reality, most people elected to high office are still Caucasian, and they are still male ... the political scene has not changed that much since politics was seen as a hobby for "old white men".

President Obama has a lot riding on his success, and I'm not referring simply to whether he wrecks the country by getting healthcare passed ... which I don't think will happen, because there are too many people who will lose their seats in Congress if it passes. If he is seen to have failed, President Obama will have been the first Black President, but there is not enough inertia in our political system yet.

Obama is the shiny new thing, but he is losing his luster, and much like other things that we have tried in our political system ONCE, like most people who lose their bid for the top spot, it may very well be that if Obama fails, the newness of having a Black president will have worn off, and we'll go back to the "comfort" of the White Male normalcy.

And please note, this is not about Obama's policies, which I despise. I simply believe that the American voting public are not that enamored with Obama enough that another Black person will ride his coat-tails to power, and it's especially bad if his administration, and this historic presidency are seen as failures.

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John B.
Blog Guy

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