Barack Obama's Success And The Racial Discrimination In The United States

America is a country made up of immigrants and their descendants. In this country the racial discrimination is deep rooted. The black and other minorities have been suffering discrimination both overtly and covertly for more than two hundred years. The living conditions of ethnic minorities have been greatly improved due to their painstaking efforts and unremitting perseverance in fighting for equality. However, the racial issue remains a chronic problem in American society.In 2008 general election, Barack Obama won a landslide victory against his opponent, John McCain, and became the first black president in American history. His overwhelming victory in the election directs people to connect his success with race in America and arouses heated discussion on the significance of his success. Americans show great expectation to the drastic legislation and policy changes under Obama's administration in areas such as politics, economy, education, universal healthcare, and foreign policy. He has created a political legend, thus becomes the key figure of American politics and in the whole world. Large amounts of coverage from the media announce that Obama's success marks great progress when dealing with racial issues in America. Many scholars even hold the view that his success heralds an end to the racial discrimination in the United States.Based on views and insights by the scholars at home and abroad, this paper proposes that Obama's success is not an end to the racial discrimination in the United States by the analysis of reasons for and the essence of Obama'success and the contemporary situation of ethnic minorities. On one hand, it helps us to understand what Obama's success means for the status of minorities especially those African-Americans in the United States. On the other hand, it helps us to develop a more objective and critical attitude towards American equality and democracy.