...indeed, and Obama all the less so (threatening that is) because his cultural and political background is not organically attached (as far as I know) to the legacy of the radical black political tradition in this country or in the African diaspora for that matter. He is something of an anomaly in Ameircan politics... on the one hand, the demographic shifts in the US since the latter half of the twentieth century will makes him less anomalous over time, but his novelty and lack of ideological grounding, other than old school liberalism besides the fact that he is clearly talented and capable and comely, are precisely what make him a 'crossover hit'.
Joe W.