For President, a Complex Calculus of Race and Politics

By Jodi Kantor
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/us/politics/for-president-obama-a-complex-calculus-of-race-and-politics.html?hp&_r=0

This article is an extremely interesting and new kind of article portraying the idea of race and the effect it has had on Obama's presidency. Before, I had considered race to be irrelevant to any sort of political campaign or election, but this article has relayed the idea that that is not the case and it in fact plays a great role in it. It opens up giving Obama's typical line when speaking in front of other African-Americans about the upcoming election. He always opens with the same line "I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you", and then the article goes on to explain many different situations in which he has said this. Ms. Kantor continues to explain that in interviews and the news, Obama rarely ever talks about his race and the fact that he is the first black president, because instead of being proud of this, he feels as though it is not what people should be focusing on. He in fact dislikes how his race affects others opinions of him when making laws and working on different political actions. I had thought that he had used his race to his advantage in being the first to do something and making it a historical landmark, when really he wants his race to have no effect on his political life. The author of the article did an excellent job in portraying the actual opinion Obama has through her use of quotations and examples from his presidency. I walk away after reading it feeling like I have been enlightened on all accounts when considering the upcoming election.