Are we there yet? President Obama and Discourses of Culture and Civil Rights

• In Event: Discourses of Stability and Change in the Post-racial Rhetoric Surrounding the Election of President Barack Obama

Abstract

At a 2008 campaign rally, one African American woman approached Senator Barack Obama with a message of urgency. After wading through the thick crowd, and after securing Obama’s attention, the woman said, “My husband told me to tell you that he is so sorry that he died before he had a chance to vote for you.” Although the woman’s husband knew he was dying, his last wish was to vote for Obama. This moving story speaks compellingly to the cultural and rhetorical significance of Obama’s presidential campaign and election. To what extent has his election transformed cultural life in North America in the areas of race and civil rights? This paper will examine Obama’s campaign rhetoric with an eye toward understanding how he negotiated tensions among race, culture and civil rights. What words and nonverbal symbols did he use? How did both the style and substance of his language invite audiences to de-emphasize past discourses on civil rights? And what are some potentially lasting cultural implications of Senator Obama’s campaign for president? Are we there yet?

Author

• Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, Indiana University