Bennett Roth, CQ Politics
- During his campaign President-elect Barack Obama suggested he would try to usher in a new political era in which race would no longer be such a sharp wedge dividing Americans.
As Obama prepares to take office, black lawmakers and political analysts offered a mixed assessment over whether the history-making election of the first African American president will diminish the decades-old racially tinged debates over public policy and cultural differences.
Some such as Civil Rights era leader, Rep. John Lewis , D-Ga., voiced optimism that his presidency could signal the waning of identity politics, in which lawmakers and others often sought to protect the interests of their own ethic and racial groups rather than rallying for the common good.
Others said that while Obama’s accomplishment clearly has symbolic value and offers inspiration particularly to younger people, it will not immediately erase the stubborn economic inequities between whites and minorities.
