The Depiction of Obama’s Black Presidency by Selected African American Writers

Abstract

It is true that the election of Barack Obama ushered in sentiments of a post racial America and even expectations that the ghosts of racial injustice would be banished. It was a historic election that elicited various reactions from various segments of the American society, if not the world. That said, this study investigates the depiction of the Obama presidency in The Black Presidency by Michael Eric Dyson and From Auction Block to Oval Office by Kahlil Almustafa. Their works paint an almost similar picture of America while revealing a very different attitude towards the presidency. A close reading of both texts—which were written over the same period of time—reveals two contrasting attitudes: While Almustafa celebrates the Obama presidency, Dyson reveals his biased stand by criticising it. In this study, I rely on both formalist and new historicist perspectives, to demonstrate the attitudes that are reflected by both writers and how Americans adapt to the presidency of Obama. In concluding this study, it clearly comes out that the Obama presidency was significant not only to the Americans but also to the entire world, the naysayers of the presidency notwithstanding. With this considered, it is evident that the Obama administration focused more on issues that affected the entire humanity and not only those that affected his community. Both writers allude to this in their depictions of the presidency: Almustafa values the significance of the presidency not only to the blacks but also to the entire world but Dyson seems to demand that Obama favours the blacks even if it means at the expense of the other communities.