And to think that people back in 2008 thought that we were in a post-racial society...

[AZ Progressive]

...with the election of Barack Obama. My gosh how wrong so many Americans were...

[ucrdem]

1. Oh hell yes.

And Nixon's Southern Strategy is alive and well, doing better than ever in fact, after having been cleverly rebranded as the Libertarian "movement."

[Purveyor]

2. OH, btw...where is the President these days? eom

[Old Union Guy]

3. Who thought that?

Not I or anyone I know.

[Cal Carpenter]

4. This^^

eta: well, some people I know. But not very many.

[Just Saying]

5. Do any liberals really believe that?

Listen, I worked for Obama and voted for him (twice). But you know I was shocked when he won. It didn't even think he could get the nomination in the world we live in.

But none of that changed the fact that there is a whole big, racist world out there. How else do we get people like Birthers? And the worst part is a lot of people cant even accept, can't recognize that their attitude is racist. People arguing this case wasn't about race. Are you kidding me?

[ucrdem]

8. It was an ideal expressed by both Obama in Kerry in their 2004 DNC speeches

and again in 2012, in Obama's election-night victory speech, and many times in between. That was what "no red states, no blue states, just red white and blue United States" meant in all three speeches, phrased in slightly different ways.

No, I never thought it was actually true, but I hoped like many that we were still moving steadily in that direction. Since 9/11/2001 however we seem to have been moving backward fast, 2008 and 2012 notwithstanding.

[frazzled]

6. Nobody thought or thinks that

/nt

[treestar]

7. It was still progress

but it doesn't mean all is over as far as racial prejudice. I could tell that when Obama was held to a higher standard and had to do ten times as much to get a tenth of the credit previous Presidents got.

[Rex]

9. I never thought that. I thought we did cross a certain threshold.

But the alarming and hideous state laws against women made me step back and realize the fact that we are going backward in some ways. Also, I live in south Texas and face racism almost everyday. I never thought a lot changed, I always stay leery. Like trusting the government or corporations having your best interest as their number one priority.

No. Never.

[liberal_at_heart]

10. the election of our first black president was a single instance of transcending rasism.

There are still millions of instances of racism and discrimination against all minorities every single day.

[Rex]

12. Yes exactly. We had a great moment.

But the reality for millions is just the same as it was the day before. I've always felt racism is growing, not shrinking. Living in Texas kinda has something to do with it.

[liberal_at_heart]

13. I grew up in Texas. I know what you mean.

[BainsBane]

11. We have never been post-racial

That was no truer in 2008 than it is now.