Street credibility. Obama needed political support from poor urban blacks. Poor urban blacks distrust anyone from outside their community, eg, someone with less prominently black features, not born in an urban US environment, and having more education than they did.
“Poor urban blacks distrust anyone from outside their community, eg, someone with less prominently black features, not born in an urban US environment, and having more education than they did.”
I do not see that as an accurate analysis. How does it explain people like Adam Clayton Powell and Charlie Rangel. Both are more educated and do not have prominently black features. This is a complex dynamic that goes back to pre-Civil War days in the slave holding South.
No time now to go into any more detail, but there is much more involved than you have described. No offense intended. I sure don’t want to start a fight.