The election of President Barack Obama has set off a chain of reactions from jubilation to rejection. As this book nears its end the nation will soon be preparing for a re-election campaign in 2012. The true test of the efficacy of Obama's new leadership style and the broad based multiracial/interracial coalition that he built will also be tested. Many wonder if Mr. Obama will be able to maintain broad support from independent voters, from Latino/Hispanic voters, from blue collar communities, and even from his liberal base of voters. President Obama has governed, according to some, in the middle. This means that for “liberals” he has been too weak, idealistic, and quick to compromise with Republicans. To conservative opponents he has been too idealistic because of his new policies such as the sweeping overhaul of the healthcare system, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell military policy, and because of his attempt to end the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. It is difficult, however, to deny that during the first three years of President Obama's term in office that there hasn't been a heightened awareness of his every move, in part because of his ethnic background. This awareness is not just due to the current economic crisis, it is also because he represents at least two firsts. He is not only the first self-identified African American/person of color to be elected President of the United States—but he is also the first biracial person to hold this office. Many political commentators, analysts, and scholars have neglected to provide a more nuanced perspective on the impact of Mr. Obama's mixed racial heritage.

This collection of essays is a response to the many sociological, political, and cultural questions that have yet to be addressed as they relate to the mixed race experience in America and to the election of this nation's first biracial President. The authors of this work seek to not only address race as a factor in the 2008 presidential election, but we each specifically attempt to expose the salience of Mr. Obama's biracial background as a factor in these historic events. Each generation throughout United States’ history has left historic moments for proceeding generations.