Was Obama's victory a miracle?

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I began to wonder about this after Obama said following Trump's election that he may have been 10 or 20 years too early.

Every time I look at Obama's victory, the more and more it seems to be so surprising of America and so improbable. I can't stress how much I believe that. Regan and Bush Jr won re-elections by sizable amounts, with often less than favorable economic conditions. Yet with Obama, it seems only the most extreme circumstances could ever allow him to ascend to office.

Just think about it. In order for Obama to be elected there had to be 1.) A disastrous ongoing war, 2.) An unpopular president and 3.) an economic meltdown. Yet even with that he only ever gained a narrow 7 point victory. And just knowing that feels astounding. Up until Lehman brothers failed, even with Mccain's horrible campaign, Obama was still trailing in the polls by two points until that moment took place. And from that, a picture is created for me, and that is that only the most extreme circumstances could ever make America elect a black president and that is precisely what happened.

Let's compare that to Reagan for a moment. In 1984 the unemployment rate was at a high 7.5% for America, the exact same as when Regan first ascended to office. Yet in spite of a prior recession and thousands of Americans losing their livelihoods, here he was winning an astounding 58% of the vote, in perhaps the biggest electoral landslide in US history. This all begs the question, Why couldn't Obama do the same?

Does America have an intense bias against black candidates that only the most intense circumstances can overcome? That is something I wonder about.

No, it wasn’t a miracle.

He was expected to win both times.

People wanted a change from the younger Bush. They were tired of Republicans by 2008. Obama ran an excellent campaign. The issue of his race was not significant on a national level.

Just like, alas, people wanted a change from Obama in 2016, and were wary of enabling a Clinton dynasty, and were tired of the Democrats. Any Republican would probably have gotten elected. Hence the dicktator known as Trump.

The Bush economy had just crashed and that made it a slam dunk for any Democrat.

Miracle or not, it says something about so many Americans voting for an African American.

Isn’t voting for a African American just cause he’s African American racist?
I met a lot who did that.

Mean I’d hate to find out people voted for me just cause I’m autistic and not cause of my policies.

Only if you do it out of hatred of the other candidate's skin color.

No. He was backed with millions by bankers and global corporations.

just like all presidents.

Obama's victory: "Let's all vote for the black guy because we've never had a black president before and that should fix all of our problems!"

Trump's victory: "That black guy sucked as a president! Let's vote for the racist white guy! He's greedy and rich so I bet he'll make us all rich too!"

I didn't vote for Obama because he's black. I didn't glow in the idea that he was the "first black President."

I don't find that he really exploited his "blackness" too much. Or that "blackness" is a big part of his consciousness.

He was just a normal politician President, to me. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Always a politician. At least he was relatively sane and relatively "Presidential."

I never cared about his skin color either but I do remember how everybody I knew was either for him or against him just because of his skin color.

There's an episode of Will & Grace that reminds me exactly of this example. Will wanted to vote for a canidate who was gay like himself, and Grace wanted to vote for a canidate who was a Jewish woman like herself. Both characters only saw the canidates for what they were on the outside but in the end found out that both of them were terrible people who didn't support either Will or Grace's actual political views.

Last edited by TW1ZTY on 23 Nov 2018, 8:16 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Agreed, save on a couple points. Obama was very sane, and very Presidential.

I'd say Donald's win was a miracle for him. Hillary would have had an easy win if it wasn't revealed that she was planning to sell the US economy to the highest bidder. People with working brains generally don't like to put idiots in power, and the first female to run for president practically had an open net. Too bad it turned out she's also an idiot who can't figure out how to delete emails.

I feel like Obama regards himself more as a "person" than as a "black person." That's what I mean.

People were tired of Bush JR's antics by 2008 and wanted someone who would take a different approach to keep America from getting worse.

I didn't vote for Obama because he was black. I voted for Obama because he understood that being POTUS would put intense pressure not only on himself, but also his Cabinet.