Did I mention he's black?

My post earlier didn't list among the silver linings of Obama's election that it signifies a landmark in race relations. The omission wasn't intended to be pointed; I just don't share the astonishment that some people seem to feel about the election of a black president. There are a few reasons for this:

1. I've felt all along - certainly since I've been voting - that America was capable of electing a black president. I realize that many black people doubted this, so for them, this is a big deal. But I've never really thought of the country as being so racist that significant numbers of people wouldn't vote for a black candidate for that reason alone.

2. We've had blacks serve as secretary of state, as senator, and in other high-level leadership positions, and when has their race ever been an issue? Indeed, when is the last time any prominent, serious person objected to a black person holding high office in this country? The Truman Administration? Obviously the election of a black man would have seemed fantastic to everyone 50 years ago. But that was, well, 50 years ago. Now it comes as no shock at all, at least not to me.

3. In Obama's case, it was apparent throughout the campaign that his being black was more of an advantage than a disadvantage in attracting votes. It certainly helped against Hillary. I interpreted the "change" in Obama's slogan "change we can believe in" to refer to his race. Hillary also represented "change" (being a woman), but we couldn't believe in her, I interpreted Obama to be saying, because she's about as ethical as Nixon. In Obama, you were getting both "change" (i.e., a candidate who was not a white male), without the cognitive dissonance of voting for a Clinton out of a sense of civic virtue.

4. I would point out that Obama lost the white vote 55% to 44% according to exit poll data I've seen. Not that I'm proposing to move the goalposts or anything, but perhaps we should save the champagne for the day a black wins the majority of white votes -- or a woman wins a majority of male votes. Or not.