Inquirer Editorial: Blame politics for race relations decline under Obama

American politics can be perverse. Consider the presidency of Barack Obama. As his eight-year tenure ends, his time in office is being graded in this or that category. Pundits pontificate about his proper place in the pantheon of presidents. Opinions of where he succeeded and failed are being expressed.

Obama's most glaring failure, given his being the nation's first African American president, would have to be in race relations. Most recent polls show both black and white Americans believe race relations got worse while Obama was president. Indeed, some critics have called him the most divisive president America has ever had. The irony of that assessment is a testament to how twisted this country's political culture can be.

Think back to 2008, when Obama was running for president and tackled the issue of race head-on in a speech at the National Constitution Center. He implored Americans not to fall into the trap of taking sides based on skin color, but instead to consider that "your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams . . . that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black, brown, and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper."

That message was wasted amid the partisan warfare raging then, as it does now, in Washington. Then-Rep. John Boehner (R., Ohio), prior to becoming speaker, said early on what Republicans would do with Obama's agenda: "We're going to do everything - and I mean everything we can do - to kill it, stop it, slow it down, whatever we can."

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell cracked the whip to make sure there was zero GOP support for any Obama proposal - from health care to financial regulation to economic stimulus. "It was absolutely critical that everybody be together because if the proponents of the bill were able to say it was bipartisan, it tended to convey to the public that this is OK," said McConnell. He didn't want anything from Obama to be seen as "OK."

Finding it futile to reach across the aisle, Obama resorted to executive orders and parliamentary procedures to get his way. He was rewarded with accusations of being a partisan bigot who refused to cooperate with Republicans. That depiction of Obama played into the hands of factions outside Washington who were never comfortable with having a black president and appreciated having more ammunition to demonize him.

Having become a lightning rod for the worst comments found on racist websites, Obama rarely addressed the subject of racism directly. He seemed to fear being accused of taking the side of blacks. But finally last week, with only days remaining before he leaves office, Obama in a farewell speech reiterated his Philadelphia points.

Obama said minorities need to tie their struggles to those of others, including the middle-aged white guy who has seen his world "upended by economic and cultural and technological change." He said whites, on the other hand, need to understand that when blacks protest, "they're not demanding special treatment but the equal treatment that our Founders promised."

Perhaps had Obama spoken bluntly about race more often, his detractors couldn't have exploited racial fears in trying to undermine his presidency. The best hope now is that history will sort out the truth.