Will Obama have to be better because he's black?
- Story Highlights
- Racial pioneers say they felt pressure to be extraordinary
- Poll shows Americans split by race over how Obama will be judged
- Racial pioneer says pressure can make person "stark-raving mad"
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By John Blake
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*(CNN)* -- Just days before he was sworn in, President Obama was giving his
daughters a tour of the Lincoln Memorial when one of them pointed to a copy
of Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address carved into the wall.
[image: President Obama strides into history as the nation's first black
president.]
President Obama strides into history as the nation's first black president.
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Obama's 7-year-old daughter, Sasha, told her father that Lincoln's speech
was really long. Would he have to give a speech as long? Obama's answer was
completed by his older daughter, 10-year-old Malia.
"I said, 'Actually, that one is pretty short. Mine may even be a little
longer,' " Obama told CNN recently. "At which point, Malia turns to me and
says, 'First African-American president, better be good.' "
The story is light-hearted, but it touches on a delicate question: Will
people hold *Obama* <http://topics.cnn.com/topics/barack_obama> to a
different standard because he is the first African-American president?
Americans appear split by race on that answer. According to a CNN/Opinion
Research Corp. poll, 53 percent of blacks say the American public will hold
Obama to a higher standard than past presidents because he is black. Most
whites -- 61 percent -- say Obama's race will not matter in how he will be
judged.
The question divided several people who were racial pioneers themselves.
Alexander Jefferson was one of the first blacks allowed to become a fighter
pilot. He was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of black pilots who
escorted bombers in World War II.
"We had to be twice as good to be average," he said.
Obama won't face the same pressures he did because his presidential
predecessor was so inept, Jefferson says.
"No, the world is ready for him," he said. "The [George W.] Bush debacle was
so depressing."
Jefferson was shot down by ground fire on his 19th mission and spent a year
in German prison camps. He wrote about his POW experiences in "Red Tail
Captured, Red Tail Free: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman and POW."
Jefferson says he dealt with the pressures of being a racial pioneer by
drawing on the strength of black leaders who opened doors for him.
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"I sit on the backs of everyone who came before me," said Jefferson, who
attended Obama's inauguration with other Tuskegee Airmen.
Jefferson says he would have emotionally imploded if he'd thought too much
about the pressures of representing all blacks and dealing with the
*racism*<http://topics.cnn.com/topics/racism_and_bigotry>he
encountered when he returned home to a segregated America after the
war.
"I did what I had to do so I didn't go stark-raving mad," he said. "There
wasn't all this self-analysis and back and forth. I was too damn busy with a
wife, a child and a mortgage."
Michele Andrea Bowen couldn't avoid a bout of constant self-analysis. She
was one of the first African-American students admitted to a doctorate
program in history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"I know Obama is going to be held to a different standard," said Bowen,
author of "Up at the College" and books such as "Holy Ghost Corner," which
celebrate black faith and culture.
Bowen says she faced relentless scrutiny, and so will Obama.
"You know that it was hard for you to get in it, and you know they're
watching you," Bowen said. "And you know that they're judging you by a
critical standard that's sometimes not fair."
Bowen says a white classmate, her partner in dissertation, once confided to
her that he received the same grades as she did, even though he knew his
work was inferior.
"It toughened me up," Bowen said. "It can give you headaches and
stomachaches. I learned you have to be thankful that God blessed you with
that opportunity. At some point, you stop worrying, and you trust God."
*'Would Bush have been president if he were black?'*
Perhaps Obama will avoid those stomachaches because of the massive good will
his election has generated. But that could change quickly if Obama makes a
controversial decision or a mistake, says Andrew Rojecki, co-author of "The
Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America."
Rojecki says people who say Obama isn't going to be held to a different
standard because of his skin color didn't pay attention to his campaign.
He says Obama had to deal with challenges that other candidates didn't have
to face. Obama's run for office was almost ended by his association with his
minister, the Rev. Jeremiah
*Wright*<http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Jeremiah_Wright>,
whose incendiary sermons shocked many.
But Republican presidential nominee John McCain's relationship with the Rev.
John *Hagee* <http://topics.cnn.com/topics/john_hagee>, who was accused of
anti-Semitism, never threatened to end his campaign, Rojecki says.
"Obama was held responsible for what his minister said, and McCain was
associated with Hagee, but somehow that didn't stick," Rojecki said.
Even people who regard themselves as the most progressive, open-minded
supporters may subconsciously hold Obama to a different standard, Rojecki
says.
He says several academic studies show that it often takes people longer to
associate good qualities to blacks when different faces are flashed across a
screen.
"They have these stereotypes buried in their subconscious," he said. "That's
why people cross the street when they see a young black man. They'd rather
not take a chance."
Obama virtually had to be perfect to overcome those stereotypes, Rojecki
says. He was the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review, he has an Ivy
League-educated wife and adorable daughters, and he ran a great campaign.
"He's the perfect symbol of achievement," Rojecki said.
White candidates for office don't have to have an uninterrupted life of
achievement to be considered for the Oval Office, Rojecki says.
"If George W. Bush were black, do you think he would be president?" Rojecki
asked.
Jefferson, the Tuskegee Airman, says Obama should have at least one
consolation. The problems he confronts now are so immense that anyone, even
someone who was considered by many to be perfect, would not be able to
escape withering judgment.
"If the president was Jesus Christ, '' Jefferson said, "they would still
debate if he's qualified."
--
"I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of
control, and at times hard to handle, but if you can't handle me at my
worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." ~Marilyn Monroe
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