​

Financial Samurai

Slicing Through Money's Mysteries

  • About
  • Invest In Real Estate
  • Top Financial Products
    • Free Wealth Management
    • Negotiate A Severance
  • Buy This, Not That (Bestseller)

Why Isn’t President Obama Considered White to The World?

Updated: 02/07/2020 by Financial Samurai 83 Comments

Insensitive statements by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) not only infuriates many, but also raises one titillating question: Why isn’t President Obama considered white? Obama’s mother is white, and his father is black. He relates more to his white side of the family given his father left him as a child. Hence, isn’t it logical to think Obama is more white than black? Let’s see if we can change Obama’s default setting to the world.

THREE SUGGESTIONS AS TO WHY

1) “He doesn’t look white.”

Well, what does “white” look like? Yes, Obama doesn’t look like a Norwegian Viking, but you can still tell he’s mixed. Since when does being half black mean that he’s full black?  If a white person is only supposed to look like Tiger Wood’s wife Elin, then we need to revise what the definition of white is.

2) The media needs something unique to sell.

Saying the first black man wins the Presidency is more eye-catching than saying another rich white man wins. Mitt Romney, with his hundreds of millions would fit right in with the Clintons, Bushes, and Cheneys. However, since we’ve already had 43 Presidents who all look the same, it’s more exciting to have someone new. Everybody loves an underdog story, and Obama’s story is no different.

3) We’re all racist and we don’t even know it.

Senator Harry Reed is unable to see Obama as a white man because he doesn’t fit the stereotype of what a white man should look like. Harry can’t help his racist condition because he was born in 1939. Segregation didn’t end until 1954, so Harry had a good 15+ years of brainwashing to think he’s unjustly superior due to his skin color. Try as Harry may, he’s been influenced far too long to change.  Obama, watch out what Harry says about you behind closed doors!

CONCLUSION – WE SEE WHAT WE WANT TO SEE

The definition of the word majority, is simply more than the minority.  Since the majority of Americans are white, we can conclude that white America has the majority say in shaping our perceptions, especially in the past. 

But, what about tomorrow? Ethnic cultures are mixing at a rapid pace. Are white folks endangered of stereotyping themselves out of existence? That answer depends on whether we can abolish thinking between just white and black. What about Asians, Latinos, and Mixed? If we can include other races, and multi-cultural groups into the main stream, we have a chance of being more balanced.

The better Obama does, the more he will be embraced by his two ethnicities. If it so happens Obama becomes the greatest President in history and finds a cure for cancer while he’s at it, how do you think perceptions will change? In essence, we see what we want to see, and hear what we want to hear. Our biases are so deeply rooted that it takes a mental nuclear bomb to go off before we realize our prejudices.

Just like politicians, the mass media will eventually be influenced by big business. Once the target demographic with the most amount of money is identified, news and opinions will cater towards their cause. Your mission if you choose to accept, is to open your mind and start embracing diversity! Don’t become another Harry Reid decades from now!

****

Famous People Who Aren’t Considered Asian Even Though They’re Half Asian: Dean Cain, Rob Schneider, Vanessa Hudgens, Tiger Woods, Keanu Reeves, Carmen Elektra, Phoebe Cates, and Lou Diamond Philips.

Famous Folks Who Aren’t Considered White Even Though They’re Half White: Booker T. Washington, Bob Marley, Mariah Carey, Thandie Newton, Alicia Keys, Derek Jeter, and Lenny Kravitz.

Readers, why do you think Obama isn’t considered white?

If you’re not white or black, do you feel left out?

Regards,

Sam

 

Tweet
Share
Pin
Flip
Share
Buy this not that instant bestseller Wall Street journal banner

Filed Under: Big Government, Relationships

Author Bio: I started Financial Samurai in 2009 to help people achieve financial freedom sooner. Financial Samurai is now one of the largest independently run personal finance sites with about one million visitors a month.

I spent 13 years working at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. In 1999, I earned my BA from William & Mary and in 2006, I received my MBA from UC Berkeley.

In 2012, I left banking after negotiating a severance package worth over five years of living expenses. Today, I enjoy being a stay-at-home dad to two young children, playing tennis, and writing.

Order a hardcopy of my new WSJ bestselling book, Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. Not only will you build more wealth by reading my book, you’ll also make better choices when faced with some of life’s biggest decisions.

Current Recommendations:

1) Check out Fundrise, my favorite real estate investing platform. I’ve personally invested $810,000 in private real estate to take advantage of lower valuations and higher cap rates in the Sunbelt. Roughly $160,000 of my annual passive income comes from real estate. And passive income is the key to being free.

2) If you have debt and/or children, life insurance is a must. PolicyGenius is the easiest way to find affordable life insurance in minutes. My wife was able to double her life insurance coverage for less with PolicyGenius. I also just got a new affordable 20-year term policy with them.

Subscribe To Private Newsletter

Comments

  1. klh says

    January 21, 2019 at 9:37 am

    the one drop rule is akin to the Nazi rule with Jews – i dont know why anyone is talking about identification since racial identity is a yardstick for many handounts and benefits these days and it you check the minority box your chances of getting a break are increased.

    Reply
    • Dana Solomon says

      June 30, 2020 at 12:23 pm

      The one drop rule was adopted by America during Jim Crow with regards to blacks, it was actually TOO EXTREME for even the Nazis (who decided 3 or more grandparents of Jewish heritage) and that’s the truth. Since this guy didn’t give you any sources, here you go.

      history.com/news/how-the-nazis-were-inspired-by-jim-crow

      And screw you whoever in the chat said America is full of racist bigots, please direct me to one country that is any better. I’ll wait. I’m sure you can’t but have fun going to the middle east, communist china, or anywhere OUTSIDE the US where Freedom of Speech doesn’t exist and try telling them they are racist bigots. Watch what happens. Try to change China’s, Russia’s, or the Middle East’s National Anthem while you are at it. Or better yet Israel lmao watch how well received you are. While your at it go tell Japan they can’t be majority Japanese cause it’s racist to minorities there, Chinese in China, Russians in Russia, yeah please tell me culture isn’t relevant or doesn’t matter and go let all the other cultures know the same. Let’s all be one under the globalists! Keke yeah good luck with that cause America has been the only country to allow other races to take office within it (including Presidency, the house, the senate, etc), tell me how that’s racist? I’m so tired of seeing the ignorance, btw even our poorest is still richer than third world countries around the world. Look at Africa, why aren’t the billionaire blacks helping it out? Aren’t they AFRICAN Americans? Yeah naw, they don’t cause they are Americans. If we are true second world, what are those third world countries that still have sex slavery, still have slaves and sweat shops, etc? Yeah at least we made laws against those, not every country has.

      Reply
  2. Kizhdillah says

    February 12, 2012 at 6:44 am

    USA is a country of dumb but arrogant racist bigots, poverty and the super rich, a true second-world country.

    Reply
  3. Kae says

    March 23, 2011 at 9:06 pm

    President Obama identifies himself as being black or African American because that is the face he has stared at in the mirror since he could see a reflection. Especially being closer to the “white” side of his family, he was always “different” from them. Why doesn’t my friend who just adopted a precious little girl from Taiwan just ignore that her daughter is different and just call her white? Because it would be foolish! If the president grew up in a home where his differences were never acknowledged, it would be very natural for him to, being aware of those differences, to inflate the importance of those differences. For those who have never had this experience (the experience of being different than nearly everyone around you) I can’t imagine it is easy to
    understand. I am part African American, native American and Irish. I have darkish skin, kinky
    curly hair, dark eyes, etc. By the world standards I am black. Three of my children are blond
    with wavy/ straight hair and blue eyes. By the worlds standards they are white. I think the problem stems with everyone caring so much about which side the president identifies with in the first place and then taking issue with it. Statements like, “I wish he identified more with his white side” seem bazaar to me. Why do you care! What, there haven’t been enough “white” presidents for people to identify with?! I just wish he identified more with being an American!!! I’d be happy with that.

    Reply
    • Biff says

      May 29, 2019 at 6:03 pm

      I agree except factually, Obama is multi. My black friends are outraged he is considering black.

      Reply
    • Kike says

      July 30, 2020 at 4:06 pm

      Yeah ok but if he was full black would he have won? Look how poor africa is. They have natural resources but are still poor. Being a black man is nothing to be proud of. Deadbeat dad, criminal, bum is what a black man is. Not a president of Anerica. They sold their own people into slavery.

      Reply
  4. Valentina says

    April 30, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    Always good to come here … there is no shortage of stimulation both from the post topics and the responses.

    Three Points:

    One: I think that it is the predominant color that takes precedence and I hate to use such a cliched example but I think it demonstrates what I mean best: Take a particularly dark chocolate milk, dilute it with half regular white milk, to all appearances it is still chocolate milk albeit a much paler shade. I don’t know at what point it becomes “white” milk – when the color is beige or champagne?

    Two: First Nation Artists. Up here in British Columbia, Canada we have several world class artists who work mostly in wood, stone or metal media. In practically every case one of their parents is white, yet they are known as native, first nation, aboriginal etc., anything but white. One of the most famous is Bill Reid whose father was a Scotsman … but of course Bill Reid is never referred to as a white artist.

    Three: Mixed racial marriages are on the increase. Every so many years the trend watchers put up a composite of the emerging media beauty “face” Increasingly that “face” is not only a mixture of two races, but more, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly what is in the mix. To our eyes of today these faces appear beautiful in a very exotic way.

    It won’t happen in our lifetime … but maybe sometime in the distant future there will no longer be a white or an asian or black. Think about it, waaaaaay back, the countries flanking the north Mediterranean Sea were white, even blond and blue eyed (think the Romans, the early Greeks and even Spain). The south was flanked byNorth Africa – all black. The slaves of these white countries were more often than not black. Eventually the races mixed and “dark and handsome” became the norm in Italy, Greece and to some extent peoples living on the coast of what once was Yugoslavia This change is particularly noticeable in Spain which was under Moorish rule for 700 years, hence the distinctive darker complexion and facial structure that is different from that of the rest of Europe.
    .-= Valentina´s last blog ..Super Blogger Reality Show Starts Tonight! =-.

    Reply
  5. Papa Boomer says

    April 25, 2010 at 5:14 pm

    Really good perspective. Obama doesn’t want to be considered white. It’s worth many more votes to be considered the black underdog. 92% of all blacks voted for Obama last election, most of them because they considered him black. That is far more racist than 6% of white people wouldn’t vote for him because he was black!

    Reply
    • admin says

      April 25, 2010 at 5:39 pm

      But 92% of the black population in America is still much smaller than 50% of the white population in America.

      Reply
      • Biff says

        May 29, 2019 at 6:05 pm

        That does make it right.

        Reply
      • Biff says

        May 29, 2019 at 6:07 pm

        I agree except factually, Obama is multi. My black friends are outraged he is considered black.

        Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


n
n

Top Product Reviews

  • Fundrise review (real estate investing)
  • Policygenius review (life insurance)
  • CIT Bank review (high interest savings and CDs)
  • NewRetirement review (retirement planning)
  • Personal Capital review (free financial tools and wealth manager)
  • How To Engineer Your Layoff (severance negotiation book)

Financial Samurai Featured In

Buy this not that Wall Street journal bestseller

Categories

  • Automobiles
  • Big Government
  • Budgeting & Savings
  • Career & Employment
  • Credit Cards
  • Credit Score
  • Debt
  • Education
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Family Finances
  • Gig Economy
  • Health & Fitness
  • Insurance
  • Investments
  • Mortgages
  • Most Popular
  • Motivation
  • Podcast
  • Product Reviews
  • Real Estate
  • Relationships
  • Retirement
  • San Francisco
  • Taxes
  • Travel
Buy this not that WSJ bestseller 728
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
Copyright © 2009–2023 Financial Samurai · Read our disclosures

PRIVACY: We will never disclose or sell your email address or any of your data from this site. We do highly welcome posts and community interaction, and registering is simply part of the posting system.
DISCLAIMER: Financial Samurai exists to thought provoke and learn from the community. Your decisions are yours alone and we are in no way responsible for your actions. Stay on the righteous path and think long and hard before making any financial transaction! Disclosures