Racism in the Obama Presidency

A major characteristic of the presidency is always approval ratings and popular opinion. Especially with the incorporation of mass media into presidential elections, voters and viewers of televised debates and stories form personal opinions about candidates’ character. What is really unfortunate about this is that media bias plays into these personal opinions, feeding the hatred and anger of many voters with negative information about candidates with views opposing those of the networks themselves. One of the most memorable manipulations of this fear and hatred has been in our current president’s term. While he was elected twice and has indeed not driven the country into the ground like many thought, President Obama has faced backlash and hatred from many Americans throughout the past eight years.

This hatred is frightening for several reasons. For one, President Obama was young and somewhat experienced upon entering the office, bearing some resemblance to the description of President Kennedy. Interestingly, Kennedy was much better received at his inauguration and through his presidency than Obama was. While this can be attributed to the political climate of the time and Obama’s entrance into an office dominated by the Republican Party for eight years prior, there is also an element of racial bias. For another point, Obama’s presidency has been riddled with conspiracy theories in the media about his citizenship and religious affiliation, which is also somewhat similar to the backlash Kennedy received for being the first Roman Catholic president. However, the conspiracies with Obama’s connection with Islam are not at all founded in his actual religious affiliation, and only showcase American racism in both anti-black and anti-Muslim settings. Obama has faced challenges that no other candidate has ever had to face, stemming directly from an uninformed hatred that can only be attributed to widespread racism perpetuated by media bias.

This racism isn’t surprising, especially being from the South. What is surprising is how willing people were to accept the widely disproven rumors about President Obama because of internal racist beliefs. I vividly remember someone at my sixth grade lunch table saying that President Obama was going to make everyone “speak Muslim,” and later my tenth grade math teacher preaching about the impending fiscal cliff and the dark times ahead. I even heard people actually call him the antichrist. It is so important that we refer to factual evidence and experience for our personal opinions of presidential candidates rather than any stereotypes, because following stereotypes and incorrect information proposed by media leads to unnecessary difficulties and the perpetuation of racism across the country.