ABSTRACT
Unsurprisingly, one of the earliest issues that arose in Barack Obama’s historic presidential campaign was the issue of “race.” During the early stages of the 2008 Democratic primaries, many people raised questions as to how racial views and issues would impact Senator Obama’s ability to gain support from white, black, and other Americans. Many of these questions stemmed from the fact that he embodied an important new shift in political goals and style among black politicians, and as a result, he stood to become the most famous black politician to adopt and benefit from this new direction in politics.
