Conclusion: Electing Transformation

Abstract

For proponents of both the multicultural and traditional narratives of American history, the presidential campaign, election, and early presidency of Barack Hussein Obama have provided ample opportunities to reiterate and reify their perspectives. From the multicultural side, perhaps the single most salient such moment is John Lewis’s Inauguration Day remark to journalist David Remnick that “Barack Obama is what comes at the end of that bridge in Selma,” an image that seeks at once to remind Americans of the dark history of racial segregation and violence and to argue for the significance and eventual triumph of the Civil Rights movement.¹ Yet equally multicultural in their connections of an individual to a specific and singular racial identity were Jesse Jackson’s repeated critiques of candidate Obama for (among other similar failings) “acting like he’s white.” Many of the more famous and controversial critiques of President Obama from the traditional side seem to align closely with parallel and ongoing criticisms of multicultural America: these include Glenn Beck’s characterization of Obama as “a racist” who has a “deep-seated hatred of white people,” Rush Limbaugh’s argument that the health care reform bill represents a form of “reparations,” and numerous descriptions of Sonia Sotomayor as an “affirmative action pick” for the Supreme Court.²