Obama can't erase the racial divide, nor should he be expected to

The likelihood that Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama will win the White House has stirred more talk that his win will do much to erase the racial divide. Anti-affirmative action crusader Ward Connerly even went further. Connerly said that Obama proved that minorities had already broken down the racial barriers, and were now being judged solely by their individual talent and ability. This was another dig that race violated the precepts of a color-blind society and that Obama as well as other prominent and prosperous blacks had obliterated all the racial barriers for blacks. That's vintage Connerly hyperbole. Others don't go quite that far off the deep end but do gloat that an Obama win will put Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton out of business.

Obama's victory is a victory solely for the millions who desperately want to reverse the carnage from eight years of Bush rule. They back Obama because they sincerely believe that he's the one who can make that happen. Many whites who admit to harboring racial animus even say they'll vote for Obama out of rage and blame at Bush for mangling the economy and putting the financial squeeze on them. But race is another matter.

A New York Times poll in July found that the prospect of an Obama win had not translated into a revolution in racial relations. By every measure, racial attitudes among many whites and blacks were frozen in time from a decade ago.  The poll found that whites and blacks had radically different views on just how widespread discrimination was in employment, education, and police practices. Blacks were far more pessimistic than whites on the future of racial relations.

Every other poll and survey on Obama and race -- and they have been endless and obsessive -- has found pretty much the same thing. While Obama is wildly popular across every racial, age, and gender demographic group, blacks and whites still see race in radically different ways. In fact, a case can be made that Obama's appeal to millions of whites, especially young whites is a double edged sword. He's successful precisely because he damped down race (a political necessity) and because of his bi- racial transcendental background. This is a racial comfort blanket and allows many to ignore or downplay racial disparities in America.
And they are deeper than ever. The National Urban League, government studies, and private surveys have well-documented the harsh reality that millions of African-Americans still hug the bottom rung when it comes to inadequate health care, failing public schools, gang and drug violence, high incarceration rates, and joblessness.

Race still crops up as a contentious and potentially polarizing issue whenever a black celebrity, athlete, or politician becomes a lightning rod of controversy. Obama is no exception. Early polls after he announced he was tossing his hat in the presidential ring in February 2007 showed that whites were near unanimous in saying that race had no relevance in determining who they would vote for. The only thing that counted was a candidate's competence, experience, and ability to deliver the political goods.

A year later that had drastically changed. In his bruising Democratic primary battles with Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and South Dakota, a sizeable percentage of whites were openly hostile to him and said that they would not vote for him. Race was the sole reason they turned thumbs down on him. The undisguised hostility showed that America was nowhere close to the racial harmony that a majority of whites told pollsters the country had attained.

The hostility, tensions and division are not Obama's doing. It just points up the surreal notion that one man even in the most powerful elected position in the land can instantly make decades of hardened racial attitudes quickly evaporate.

Obama has walked a tight rope during the campaign and been careful not to feed illusions that his administration will signal a radical remake of America's racial order. He has taken the pragmatic and politically cautious approach to racial iniquities. That approach is to reverse Bush damage and help blacks and the poor by boosting spending and jumpstarting new initiatives to improve health care, education, and employment, and priming the economy.  Anything else would instantly raise too many red flags and bring swift accusations of racial pandering from those who will watch hawk like for any sign of a racial tilt by him.

Obama would have had absolutely no chance to bag the White House without millions of white votes. Many whites supported him because they truly believe that he represents the change that the nation desperately needs, and that includes ending the corrosive racial divide. That's a huge step forward, but only a step forward. An Obama White House will not erase the racial divide, and it's patently unfair to expect him to.