ENGLISH

John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the Politics of Ethnic Incorporation and Avoidance

By Robert C. Smith

Book information

Publisher
SUNY Press
Year
2013
ISBN
9781438445595, 2012012852
Language
english
Format
EPUB
Filesize
694 kB (711002 bytes)
Series
SUNY series in African American Studies
Pages
276\0
Time added
2022-08-12 13:16:36

Description

Political analysts and journalists often draw analogies between John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic Irish president, and Barack Obama, the first African American president. Their election to the nation's highest office was historic, but for reasons not fully appreciated. In John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the Politics of Ethnic Incorporation and Avoidance, Robert C. Smith provides a fascinating comparison of the challenges both men faced in their bid for the presidency, while at the same time providing comparative histories of the Catholic Irish and African American struggles to overcome racial and religious subordination in America. Kennedy's Catholicism was an explicit issue in the 1960 election, and once elected he was extremely careful to avoid appearing either "too Irish" or "too Catholic." While Obama's race was not an explicit issue in the 2008 election, he was just as careful to avoid appearing "too black." Paradoxically religion—thanks to rumors and lies about whether Obama was a Muslim—became a substitute for race, allowing Republican strategists to "otherize" Obama by raising the issue of religion in the context of national security and terrorism.

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