Does Obama's race hurt him or help him?

For sensible people, it won't matter either way. But beyond a few southern states where racial tensions run deep (and where they would have gone red anyway), there's a chance it may actually help him at least as much as it hurts him. Let me explain.

There are two types of racism among white people, hard racism and soft racism, or "cultural" racism. Hard racism involves people that really and truly believe that people from a different lineage than themselves are inherently inferior. Thankfully, these people make up only a small percentage of the population.

Soft racism, however, is far more prevalent. Soft racism involves antipathy toward cultural markers that differentiate minorities as out-groups, for example, clothing, slang, heavy accents, music, customs, etc. These things make minorities seem different from white people, and therefore questionable or scary. These people have issues with people that walk, talk, dress and behave differently than themselves. They may attribute these differences as having to do with the out-groups' race. But, as unjustified as it remains, ultimately it is the different behavior that makes them wary and fearful.

The point of this is that unlike hard racism, soft racism is malleable and subjective to the individual. If a minority person dresses, acts and speaks the same ways as a white person in the same walk of life, even many white people who can otherwise be soft racist will feel relief and warm up to them relatively quickly. They will put that minority in a different category from the "other ones", and soon they will forget about that person's descent altogether.

By acting like a white person, minorities can often alleviate a lot of soft racism among people that know them. Not all, I hasten to add. But a good deal of it. Indeed, some black professionals have said that when they reach the top, they feel that they have been "anointed" by their new friends and associates. Racism still exists, it just isn't directed at them so much, at least by the people they know well and deal with every day.

Obama himself is keenly aware of this fact. In his 1994 memoir Dreams from my Father, he wryly noted how easily he could get out of trouble as a teenager just by smiling and acting non-threatening "People were so relieved to see a young black man that wasn't angry that they would let anything go" (He noted that the one white person that this didn't work on was his own mother).

There are minorities that have thrived after thwarting soft racism. One of the most visible examples is Obama's fellow Chicagoan Oprah Winfrey, who may be one of the wealthiest entertainers in history. She is beloved by tens of millions of housewives across the nation.

Here's a question- If being black is always a hindrance in America, does that mean that Oprah Winfrey could possibly be more successful than she already is, by being the same person she is now, only white? Somehow I doubt it. Winfrey is at the top of her field. Its hard to imagine her -or anyone, really- being more successful than she already is. It's even possible that for some strange reason, it oddly became a benefit. Maybe people were more comfortable hearing about the taboo topics Winfrey started her career discussing when it came from someone who was likeable, relateable and empathetic, but also in other ways a bit of an outsider.

In Obama's case, once he convinces whites that he's just like them and part of the club, being black could just be another way of setting him apart from the typical politician. The stereotypical corrupt politician is an old, over-polished white guy with silver hair and an easy, slightly superficial familiarity with others. It may not be a conscious reaction, but some people that have come to trust Obama as normal culturally might look at him and go, "I think this guy is different from the other politicians. I can't put my finger on why, but I don't think he's the same as all the others".