“That’s what happened with Obama - he didn’t win because he was black - he won in spite of it.”
Except for the above I agree with all you say. Obama won because he was black and a good part of the voting public was ashamed to NOT vote for him lest they feel racist.
Had a white man run instead of Obama and he had the identical experience, backround and policies they would have lost in a landslide.
Being black was just one part of a package that propelled Obama to victory:
He was black (sort of).
He ran as a Democrat.
He was young.
He could talk and act just like a prep school white if he wanted to.
He was a clean slate - no history - no records - no legislation - perceived as a Washington DC outsider.
Just being black would have gotten him exactly nowhere, if he hadn’t also had those other “qualifications”.
If just being black did the trick then Condoleezza Rice or Ben Carson would have been elected President :-)
It’s not even enough to be black and a Democrat, or we would have had a President Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton.
Even being black, young, a Democrat, and talk-like-a-white-preppy isn’t enough - the key was that Obama somehow managed to come out of nowhere with a clean slate.
The next Obama (dream Democrat candidate) may or may not be black.