The First Black President: Barack Obama’s Historic Election in 2008

As the first decade of the new millennium neared its end, the 2008 election brought with it the prospect of moving away from the unpopular policies of the George W. Bush administration and selecting a new leader to battle the deepening Great Recession. After Barack Obama secured the Democratic Party’s nomination, it also offered the very real possibility of electing the nation’s first Black president.

Though Black men were formally granted the right to vote in 1870, decades of voter repression and intimidation resulted in minimal Black representation in government and low rates of voter registration and turnout, particularly in the South. Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965), the representation of Black Americans in government began to increase, though more slowly at the national level than in state and local positions.

The first Black candidate to formally run in the presidential primaries was Shirley Chisholm, who campaigned in 12 states in 1972, ending her run with 152 pledged delegates. By 2008, only two Black candidates had run nationwide campaigns in the Presidential primaries, Jesse Jackson and Alan Keyes, and neither had secured their party’s nomination.

The Political Landscape of the Aughts

Though Americans largely supported the invasion of Afghanistan, the subsequent invasion of Iraq was less popular, particularly when the administration’s lies about the nation possessing weapons of mass destruction became apparent. The administration’s mishandling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, implementation of the controversial Patriot Act, prolonged entanglement in Afghanistan without capturing Osama bin Laden, and finally, the 2008 recession conspired to give Bush one of the lowest approval ratings of an outgoing president.

Whoever took the reins in 2008 would have their hands full.

Born in Hawaii in 1961, Barack Obama grew up in both Indonesia and Hawaii before moving to the continental US to pursue his degree. After graduating from Columbia University with a BA in political science in 1983, he spent a brief period working in the private sector in New York City. He then relocated to Chicago’s South Side and began the work that would ultimately lead him into politics—and the White House.

Obama began working with Chicago’s Developing Communities Project in 1985, coordinating with organizations in low-income communities to improve housing and offer job training. He shifted course in 1988, entering Harvard Law School and becoming the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review before returning to Chicago to continue his mission. He first worked with Project Vote for the 1992 election, aimed at increasing Black voter turnout, before joining a small law firm where his practice focused on civil rights cases.

Obama’s political career began in 1996 when he was elected to the Illinois State Senate, where he became a productive legislator before moving on to run for national office in 2004. He delivered a highly regarded keynote address emphasizing national unity at the 2004 Democratic National Convention before going on to win his Senate race with 70% of the vote, due in part to his Republican challenger’s personal scandals. Only the fifth Black Senator in US history, Obama began to make a name for himself in national politics, championing messages of hope and change, and formally entered the presidential race in February 2007.

The 2008 Democratic primary initially pitted Obama against a number of competitors, but the field was quickly whittled down to just three viable options: Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards. By early 2008, just Clinton and Obama remained. Obama pulled off a surprising eight-point win in the Iowa caucuses, long believed to gauge the political leanings of the nation, but the race remained tight throughout the primaries. Though many political pundits had essentially declared Obama the winner by April, Clinton battled onward, finally conceding the nomination in June.

The 2008 election pitted Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, on the Democratic ticket against Republican John McCain and his VP selection, Sarah Palin. Obama’s campaign heavily emphasized the need for change, not only of the party in power but of the partisan politics that had long held sway in Washington, as well as the foreign and domestic policy debacles that were weighing down the current administration.

As a relative newcomer to Congress, Obama was able to position himself as an outsider while still touting years of experience in the kind of on-the-ground, grassroots political activism that had become increasingly popular with young voters. He was skilled at reading the voting public. Thus, early on, Obama latched onto a unifying issue that appealed to voters across the spectrum, healthcare reform, making affordable and accessible healthcare for all Americans a key element of his campaign platform.

As the Bush presidency was winding down, his approval rating plummeted to just 22%, leaving McCain in the difficult position of being the heir apparent to one of the most unpopular presidents in modern American history. In contrast, Obama could drive home his “change” message by citing the failings of the Bush administration and McCain’s support for many of its policies. When the long-brewing financial crisis finally erupted in late 2008, it was another nail in the GOP’s coffin.

While VP candidates are often an afterthought, McCain’s choice of running mate—the relatively unknown Alaska governor perhaps chosen because she was a political outsider—backfired rather quickly. Palin’s arguable charm could not disguise her ignorance of many policy issues, which drew increased attention because of McCain’s age and the possibility that Palin could ultimately take over the presidency. On the other hand, Obama, 47 years old compared with McCain’s 72, selected a career politician with years of experience, particularly in foreign policy, as his running mate, which may have reassured voters concerned about electing a newcomer.

The 2008 presidential election was also the first in which the Internet, and more specifically social media, played a prominent role. It had become much easier to reach out to young voters, who were particularly fed up with the US entanglements in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other groups the major parties often ignored because they did not usually vote or contribute to presidential campaigns. The Internet evened the playing field, enabling low-cost outreach across different demographic groups, and the Obama campaign took full advantage.

While the political establishment had traditionally been focused on big-money donors, the 2008 election showcased the fundraising power of $5 and $10 donations from people from all walks of life. Obama, in fact, refused public funding that was available to his campaign in favor of citizen donations, raising $750 million for his presidential run—three times what McCain raised.

For a variety of reasons, Obama energized voters: he was young and charismatic with a captivating speaking style, he came from outside the political establishment with fresh policy proposals to accompany his message of change, and he had years of experience working on the ground with ordinary Americans.

And he was Black.

Though wrong to overstate it, it would be a mistake to ignore the role race played in the 2008 election. Americans of all backgrounds were excited at the prospect of the country’s first Black president. For Black Americans, in particular, it meant finally seeing themselves represented in the country’s highest office. For white Americans, it was a rejection of the country’s entrenched racism and a symbol of how far the American voting public had come.

On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. Ultimately, Obama secured a solid victory, collecting 365 electoral votes and 53% of the popular vote, with nearly 70 million Americans opting for Obama over McCain. Voter turnout swelled, with 63% of eligible voters casting a ballot, the highest percentage since the 1960 presidential election, and nine states flipped from red to blue. Exit polls showed Obama was especially popular among young and minority voters.

The election of the first Black president led some pundits to quickly declare a post-racial America; his victory was lauded by some as definitive proof that skin color was no longer the limiting factor it once was. In his victory speech, Obama summed up the importance of the historic moment: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer… It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.”

This optimism was perhaps too hasty, with some scholars arguing, in retrospect, that rather than marking the country’s moving beyond its racist past, the election of the first Black president ultimately highlighted and even deepened racial tensions. Numerous race-related issues that persisted throughout his terms can be cited, including the use of racist tropes, like birtherism, to object to his presidency and the rise of—and vociferous opposition to—the Black Lives Matter movement in response to a number of racially motivated police shootings.

Additional proof of the country’s failure to break with its racist past was perhaps best seen with the Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act during Obama’s second term. The decision had an immediate impact on nearly 50 years of progress in voting access and turnout, allowing states to implement new restrictions and regulations that disproportionately impacted the Black and minority voters who had propelled Obama to the presidency.

Obama’s victory was a hard-fought, historic achievement, but hardly the death knell for racism in the United States that so many were anticipating.