Black lives, under Obama, lost value

Parting is such sweet sorrow,” says Juliet to Romeo in Shakespeare’s telling of it. And so it is, but Barack Obama’s impending departure from the national stage does not necessarily pierce the heart in the same way. Many Americans prefer the message of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks: “How can I miss you when you won’t go away?”

Legions of Americans awaiting January 20 are beset by clashing emotions — relief that eight years of the Obama era are almost over, and sorrow over expectations not met. It didn’t have to be this way.

Obama took the stage at McCormick Place and delivered a closing address that presented a Reaganesque defence of “our bold experiment in self-government”. He ticked off a list of what he said he had done: “reverse of a great recession … shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons programme without firing a shot … and secure the right to health insurance for another 20-million of our fellow citizens”.

A president can cover himself in self-congratulations but, as he said his mother had warned him as a child, “reality has a way of catching up with you”. A December poll conducted for AP found 66% of Americans believe Obama “either tried but failed to keep his promises” or believe simply that he has “not kept his promises”.

When asked by Gallup in a poll on Monday whether the US had gained or lost ground in race relations during Obama’s presidency, 25% said they had improved and 20% said they were the same, and 52% said the prospect of good race relations had lost ground. The financial picture of black Americans has borne out that view. When Obama entered office in 2009, the median household income for black families was $35,954, nearly $20,000 below that of all Americans. Five years of struggle was required for the black economy to approach that level again. This occurred on the watch of the first black president. Washington, January 11.