When is the Earliest a possible time we could have a Black President?

David T

TheKutKu said:
does an ancestraly USAian black American presidential candidate (Like Brooke) have different odds or have a different perception than a non-ancestraly USAian black American like Obama, Powell or Harris?
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There's no evidence it makes any difference. Probably not many people even knew Powell's parents were Jamaicans. What they knew (apart from his military/national security record of course) was that he was Black. People were more aware of Obama's Kenyan ancestry but it doesn't seem to have hurt him among Blacks of USA ancestry and it's doubtful that it hurt him among Whites more than being descended from Mississippi slaves would have.. (It did give rise to "birtherism" but only among people who would have voted against him anyway.)
 
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brunohusker

sciscisciortino said:
Pre-Obama, Douglas Wilder in the 90s seems like a very possible timeline.
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Forgot about him. He’d be a good choice. Also this is a more hipster choice, but if JC Watts wanted to, could get maybe get in before Obama or even run against him if he gets a bigger office? Apparently he resigned to spend more time with his family but maybe if he runs for Senate in Oklahoma he might get some star power, though again, it’s a hipster choice and I don’t know if he would get in by 2008.
 

Lalli

TheKutKu said:
does an ancestraly USAian black American presidential candidate (Like Brooke) have different odds or have a different perception than a non-ancestraly USAian black American like Obama, Powell or Harris?
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Probably not much difference. Same people who questionised Obama's natural-citizenship and are claiming that Harris is not natural-born citizen would had invented some another reason cause some shit towards black president who is let's say descendant of Southern slaves. Such claims just rose from racism and these same people would find something else.
 

Marko

I know it is wildly proclaimed Obama was the first "black" president, but considering his ancestry was he really?

Wouldn't it be correct to say he was a mulatto president?
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Lalli said:
Probably not much difference. Same people who questionised Obama's natural-citizenship and are claiming that Harris is not natural-born citizen would had invented some another reason cause some shit towards Democratic president who is let's say descendant of Southern slaves, or anybody who their cue-giving information ecosystem says should be a target. Such claims just rose from partisanship and these same people would find something else.
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I fixed what the prime mover should be in that sentence. Anything can be picked on. Race, sex, having a lisp, seeming French, wind-surfing, being old, stuttering. Being 'not on my team' is all it takes.
 

Don Corleone

There's a theory that Ike was passing for white. Maybe if that were true and proven shortly before the election, voters would have shrugged it off because he was a WW2 hero.
 

David T

A decade ago, I would have suggested Warren Harding as a possibility, even if a remote one. True, the rumors of his Black ancestry were spread by his political enemies, but he himself was not sure they were false. As he told a friendly reporter, "How do I know, Jim? One of my ancestors may have jumped the fence." But in 2015 DNA testing disproved the rumors. https://books.google.com/books?id=F4qRDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA129
 

dfl_90

Jesse Jackson was probably the earliest African American that might’ve stood a non-negligible chance at being nominated by a major party. That said, 84 and 88 were not ideal years for pulling off a Democratic upset. Perhaps if he ran again in 92 and Clinton was unexpectedly pushed out of the primaries due to some scandal, he might snag the nomination with a strong plurality. From there it's hard to say how the election pans out, especially considering Perot's candidacy is in the mix too.

Beyond Jackson, Colin Powell is the most obvious answer by a long shot. He was a pretty popular figure at the time, even among Democrats. Had he ran in 96 or 00, he stood a reasonable chance of securing the Republican nomination. 00 likely would’ve been the better year for him, but even in 96 he probably would’ve been a pretty formidable candidate.
 

LegionoftheUnitedStates

dfl_90 said:
Jesse Jackson was probably the earliest African American that might’ve stood a non-negligible chance at being nominated by a major party. That said, 84 and 88 were not ideal years for pulling off a Democratic upset. Perhaps if he ran again in 92 and Clinton was unexpectedly pushed out of the primaries due to some scandal, he might snag the nomination with a strong plurality. From there it's hard to say how the election pans out, especially considering Perot's candidacy is in the mix too.

Beyond Jackson, Colin Powell is the most obvious answer by a long shot. He was a pretty popular figure at the time, even among Democrats. Had he ran in 96 or 00, he stood a reasonable chance of securing the Republican nomination. 00 likely would’ve been the better year for him, but even in 96 he probably would’ve been a pretty formidable candidate.
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Jackson ran an activist vanity campaign. He was never close to being a contender.
If memory serves he did worse against Mondale than Kennedy did against Carter for years before.
 

Enigmajones

Marko said:
I know it is wildly proclaimed Obama was the first "black" president, but considering his ancestry was he really?

Wouldn't it be correct to say he was a mulatto president?
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Ive thought that myself, as he was half black half white, he wasn't the first full Black president. So it would be interesting to see an entirely Black president.
 

Enigmajones

Funnily enough, if Lynn Swann became Governor of Pennsylvania in 2006, he could have run in 2008, and potentially become the first Black president instead of Barack Obama.
 

TheBalkanizer

Colin Powell was super popular. If he had run in 96 or 2000 he would have won handily.
as for his presidency it would either be Black Eisenhower or Black Dubya
 
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