> How about creating a new national climate of racial and ethnic
> unity ?
Maybe. But how good a thing would that be if it were just at the level of appearance? Ditto the image of the U.S. in the world - he could make us more "likable," which could legitimate imperial practices he leaves largely unchanged.
Doug
^^^^ CB: If a majority of white people or a large enough numbers of white people vote for O for such an important symbolic position in American culture, that in itself is substance. It would be about as substantive as the racial unity of the Civil Rights era. Such unity would create the potential for achieving a lot of other things. It would be something of the "unite" step in the strategy of "Black and White ( and Brown and Red and Yellow), unite and fight." The more substantive changes would be potentially had in the fight that follows the unity.
As to the US's image in the world, I don't see how the US' s image in the world would change if O or Clinton didn't change some policies and actions of the US around the world.