BARACK 0BAMA -The Synthesized One

It is not Barack Obama's African-American roots or the African-American identity he assumed, but his synthesis of dominant and now familiar elements of the globalized, postmodernism world which accounts for his election to the presidency.

Barack Obama's racial categorization has lately become a topic of interest. This is due mostly to the need of a ubiquitous, hyperactive, competitive media always on the look for new topics; of a media now adept at creating topics ex nihilo. It is also partly due to the inexhaustible curiosity of a widely diversified democratic population and the historical, yet at the time largely covert questions about racial make-up and identification. While the questions and opinions are now mostly in the form of parlor entertainment, since they relate to the soon-to-be president of the United States, they inevitably reflect political and social ideas and mores. And perspectives coming about from the postulates and reasonings over Obama's essential race will inevitably shape future assessments of him and his presidency.

One treatment of how Obama should truly be looked at racially was done by Marie Arana in a Washington Post article titled He's Not Black. Arana's article received attention not only because it was one of the first to explore the question at length, but also because it was not abstract or theoretical. Like Obama, Arana is patently, by appearance, multiracial. Her mother--coincidentally like Obama's--was a white woman from Kansas; her father, a native of Peru. She is seen as more or less Hispanic. Arana thus writes from an experience of multiracism. From old family pictures, she presumes some of her ancestors as Asian and Negroid. The matter is thus more than parlor entertainment for her. Her thoughts and resolutions on it influence the paths she takes and her identity.

Arana sees Obama as "our first biracial president...a bridge between races." Yes, at least. But this does not explain or summarize Obama entirely. This is a handy, almost routine sociological or journalistic remark on Obama. (And one that will likely be increasingly topical.) But it merely describes the surface. It is only a variation on the notion of "multiculturalism" attributed to American society for the past few decades.

Obama has said about himself that he identifies as "African-American--that's how I'm treated and that's how I'm viewed." As anyone who has read Obama's book "Dreams from My Father" knows, Obama's ultimate acceptance of this identity was not as simple it might seem from this quote. But to simplify here, one can say--and Obama would admit--that he accepted this identity because it was the one attributed to him by others and it was also in fact one--the one--he felt most comfortable with particularly given his skin color. But this is only the beginning to grasping Obama the person and his election in today's America.

This simple identity--or reference--of Obama as African-American satisfies different important political and social sentiments and groups. For African-Americans, his election is a milestone of racial progress. For liberals, it gratifies their support of civil rights and equality. Even conservatives who did not vote for Obama recognize that his election demonstrates the genuineness of the prime American virtue of tolerance. Even hate groups such as white supremacists have their own, oppositional, values, views, and aims clarified and strengthened by Obama being seen as African-American. African-American is a category in American culture which enables groups all along the sociopolitical spectrum to position themselves within American society and to assess their relationship to other groups. Take away the African-American label from Obama, and the assessment of American politics and society at this time becomes cloudy and indeterminate. Yet the African-American category or label was not a significant factor in Obama's election.

Reference to the African-American category does not reach to the qualities and parameters of today's world which are the reasons why Obama was elected. It is shared or at least similar qualities by which the majority, particularly the younger generations, identified with Obama; not the superficiality of his African-American identity which they accepted either from ideals or tolerance. The parameters of today's world, not something as narrow ethnic roots, allowed for an unconventional figure such as Obama to find not only political accommodation at the highest and most visible level, but more than this, to find affirmation.

One must look more to Obama rather than to how and that others categorized him. One must look to the breadth of his experience, especially the diverse locales from Indonesia to Boston; to his intelligence and sensitivities; to his discipline and self-control; to his susceptibilities; and to his ambitions and goals. Geographical expanse, opportunities availed by recognized promise, desire to play a role in government (which includes making a name for oneself), and identification with major American, democratic values such as fairness and equality account for Obama's make-up so as to overshadow roots (though these are not irrelevant). It is not genealogy nor even so much biography which opens the window to Obama's nature, but rather the movement of ideas and persons among the areas of the world and the diplomatic and artful ways these are brought into some sort of concord for the accomplishment of practical work and the possibility of change.

It is not surprising that a population of mostly younger persons reaching out to others by presenting themselves on FaceBook and YouTube; used to purchasing foreign-made consumer goods from cars to computers to toys; increasingly studying abroad for a semester or more in college; and working in jobs from all levels from entry to managerial and executive levels to professional went with Obama for president. Obama's poise and politics correlated to the central circumstances of today globalized, postmodern world. His synthesis of these--kept in balance by his self-discipline, scope of sympathies, and clarity of mind--is the matrix for the leadership he will exercise as president.

END