Obama Says Race a Key Component in Tea Party Protests

In a new book, President Obama talks candidly about race and the presidency

(By Kenneth T. Walsh, US News & World Report) - Backlash. There were many effects stemming from Obama's presidency, both those that were expected and those that were not. One was a surprising surge in the number of black Republican candidates in the midterm elections of November 2010. At least 32 African-Americans were running for Congress as Republicans . . . the largest number since Reconstruction, according to The New York Times. The last time there was a black Republican serving in the House was 2003, when J. C. Watts of Oklahoma left office after eight years. The New York Times found that "many of the candidates suggest that they felt empowered by Mr. Obama's election, that it made them realize that what had once seemed impossible—for a black candidate to win election with substantial white support—was not." The states where these candidates were running included Arkansas, Arizona, and Florida.

[Top aide] Valerie Jarrett told me, "I think at the time of his victory, there was an enormous amount of historical significance to this country being able to elect a person who was African-American as president. I think that there are probably people who still see him as an African-American president favorably and unfavorably. But the vast majority of people, I think, see him as their president. I think that because he inherited such a crisis on all fronts—two wars, an economic meltdown, a fiscal meltdown, the largest deficit in our nation's history, and a health crisis, energy crisis, education crisis, confidence crisis around the world—because of this extraordinary moment in history when he stepped in, I don't think there has been a lot of time to focus on his race. People just want to know, 'Are you going to be able to improve the quality of my life?'"

But Obama, in his most candid moments, acknowledged that race was still a problem. In May 2010, he told guests at a private White House dinner that race was probably a key component in the rising opposition to his presidency from conservatives, especially right-wing activists in the anti-incumbent "Tea Party" movement that was then surging across the country. Many middle-class and working-class whites felt aggrieved and resentful that the federal government was helping other groups, including bankers, automakers, irresponsible people who had defaulted on their mortgages, and the poor, but wasn't helping them nearly enough, he said.