Obama Elected President; Racial Barrier Stands

For days now, I’ve been meaning to blog about The New York Times‘ post-election headline:

The story’s first paragraph read:

Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive.

Um, what? Ok, first of all, this was easy?! Also, more importantly, one person of color at the top does not mean the glass ceiling — or any other barrier — is gone. Yes, Obama surpassed that barrier. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still firmly in place. It doesn’t mean that now the floodgates are opened, and we now live in an America where race is no longer a factor. A few months ago, I wrote about this in the context of women in politics:

And to be totally fair, I don’t think Hillary Clinton’s nomination for president (or even her election as president) would have, in and of itself, shattered the glass ceiling, either. That’s because when we talk about the invisible ceiling holding women back, we’re talking about broad, systemic problems that can’t be solved by one woman, no matter how fierce.

Yes, Obama’s election is historic. Yes, it is a sign of progress. Yes, it is a huge triumph. But the “racial barriers” to ascending the highest ranks of society and politics are far from gone. There is still a lot of work to do. Again, as I wrote with regard to Hillary Clinton,

Hillary Clinton would have been a far greater ceiling-smasher than
Palin — not because Clinton was a presidential candidate while Palin
is a VP candidate, but because Clinton has shown she actually cares about dismantling the ceiling that holds all women back.
She has advocated for policies guaranteeing equal pay and paid family
leave, and elevated many women to positions of considerable power
within her campaign.

This can be applied to Obama, too. And I think this is at the heart of why many of us will be watching as his Cabinet and other appointment announcements are made in the coming months. (I refuse to freak out about the white-dude-ishness of some of the “short lists” created by the media. But I will certainly not be happy if Obama’s actual appointments are mostly white men.) Because while Obama’s election alone does not immediately shatter barriers, he is now uniquely positioned to make some great strides in dismantling them.