The second black president (and I’m not talking about Obama)

For a long time, I’ve been told that the only reason I like Barack Obama is because I’m black.

For a long time, I’ve also been told that Bill Clinton was the first “black” president.

As perplexing as this paradigm is, it’s a superlative that worries me as we rapidly approach the general election and have the possibility of electing the second black president—-Hillary.

It’s no secret that most African-Americans have heavily favored Sen. Clinton from the beginning. Afterall, her husband has been deemed the “first black president” by many blacks. Under Bill’s administration, it’s common belief that many blacks experienced great income increases as well.

So when it came to securing the coveted black vote, Hillary deployed none other than Bill to areas heavily populated by black voters to remind people of the good times they experienced during his time in office.

The sad reality is that only blacks who benefited from first Clinton Administration were affluent blacks. In 2005, Melissa Harris-Lacewell co-authored an article in the Journal of Black Studies. In this article Lacewell analyzed five national surveys from 1984 through 2000. The data shows that nearly a third of black Americans held false understandings of black economic conditions during the Clinton years.

By the time Clinton left office, many African-Americans incorrectly believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites. In the ’80s, barely 5 percent of blacks believed blacks were economically better off than whites. By 2000, nearly 30 percent of African-American respondents believed that blacks were doing better economically than whites. This belief is simply wrong.

The reference to Bill Clinton as “black” comes from his private sexual encounters made public and his “I did not inhale” confessions. These items create a superficial facade of what it means to be “black.” And, as Clinton performed “blackness,” the real black people got poorer. On the Slate.com, Lacewell says “The poorest African-Americans experienced an absolute decline in income, and they also became poorer relative to the poorest whites. The richest African-Americans saw an increase in income, but even the highest-earning blacks still considerably lagged their white counterparts.”

So now, more blacks are migrating towards the Obama side of things.

In December and January Post-ABC News polls, Clinton led Obama among African Americans by 60 percent to 20 percent. In the new poll, Obama held a narrow advantage among blacks, 44 percent to 33 percent. The shift came despite four in five blacks having a favorable impression of the New York senator.

African Americans view Clinton even more positively than they see Obama, but in the time since he began his campaign, his approval rating rose significantly among blacks. In the latest poll, 70 percent of African Americans said they had a favorable impression of Obama, compared with 54 percent in December and January.

But, with so many big black names supporting Sen. Clinton, Rev. Al Sharpton questioning Obama’s blackness and his plans for the “urban agenda,” Clinton’s wins in Ohio and Texas and the momentum of Bill’s blackness, Hillary could very well be elected as the second black president of the United States.

–Sasha Kai