President of Where?

As a white man, I am heavily invested in the success of President Obama. His promise to create change resonates deeply in me, not only because I have been disappointed by the Republicans over the past eight years, but also because I feel personally victimized by race relations on a daily basis. As a shopkeeper in a predominantly black neighborhood, I know what distrust looks and sounds like. I know how skepticism acts when it's personified. I know how it feels to be greeted warmly or warily. I know how language divides and alienates. Perhaps that sounds like whining, especially when compared to the gross victimization of African Americans, but hear me out. I am not looking for compensation, or a bigger piece of the pie or a leg up, or any other special treatment. In fact, what I'm looking for is more of what I get from most people already, black and white, especially children, a look straight in the eye that says "Who are you?"

So far the change that has taken place is only in the degree to which people have decided that race ought not be the deciding factor in this election. The outcome is proof of that. But there ought to be more. Much more. I have heard pundits talk about Obama as a role model who young black boys can choose to emulate when the road diverges and the choice between good and bad behavior has to be made. I have heard black ministers extol the way that he has inspired young people of color to work for our American democracy. I have heard young black mothers enthusiastically proclaim that now they can tell their children that they can be anything they choose to be. This is all evidence of unmitigated success, but consolidation of that success depends on the next steps.

For the first time in the past 30 years, I have been engaged in intimate conversations with black people about American politics. Sure we talked about Bush and Kerry, Bush and Gore, about the peccadilloes of Bill Clinton, but not with enthusiasm, not with the intense interest that leads to a thirst for analysis and constant update, in other words, not in the way that we've been talking about Obama.  That's new and  fresh.  It leads me to believe that maybe there's no turning back. Politics is addicting. I don't know anyone who has become completely disengaged after being thoroughly involved in a political race, especially a successful one. Yes, apathy has a way of working its evil into our system, particularly when there seems to be a great divide between the governors and the governed, but when a person has participated in an election and helped make something happen that seemed unlikely if not impossible, he'll never look at politics in the same way again.

There are subtler things at stake here, too. Subtler, yet far more profound that can transform America more completely than Obama's election. The realization of these depend on the continued engagement of blacks and whites in a dialogue about race and not race. A dialogue about rich and poor, about liberal and conservative, about religion, sexuality, defense, science, education and differences of opinion. That is what this historic election comes down to. That is what is at stake here. The chance we have right now is to move past the idea that a person's views can always be attributed to something beyond his or her control, as if knowing someone's color or religion or sexual orientation determines exactly how that person thinks and worse yet what they think of you. Because of Obama's election I am freed from being that white guy who owns the restaurant. Now I'm just the guy who owns the restaurant and my restaurant can be judged on the quality of the food it delivers, not the color of its owner.

When I'm standing in my shop and I greet a new customer, I can expect more than ever before. I can expect not to be seen as a white guy first, with all of that weight. I can expect to be seen as a man who might have voted for President Obama. No one can predict where I stand on an issue without getting to know me. As far as anyone knows, I didn't vote my race. The challenge of this presidency is to get all Americans thinking about every issue and working toward common values and uncommon success. Now that we have delved into talk about race we can also recognize that there's a lot that has nothing to do with race. Like buying a meal. Like owning a restaurant. In other words, maybe now we can start to take race in stride.

The sureness of that stride will depend on how we treat Obama's failures. He has inherited the toughest set of circumstances since FDR won the office, failures are bound to come. I'm invested in his success because now I can speak my mind about his failures without fear of being labeled a racist. And I can expect that the next time a black man or woman runs for office, black people won't feel compelled to vote for him or her because of color. Nor will they expect me not to vote for a person of color because I'm white. Tomorrow has finally come.