Obama’s Race-Hustling Eulogy at a Race Hustler’s Funeral
14th March 2026
Former President Barack Obama long ago surpassed the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton as America’s most influential race hustler. The country got a reminder when Obama spoke at Jackson’s funeral, even though Jackson’s son urged the speakers “not to bring their politics” to the service.
Obama said: “Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible. Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other, and to turn on each other. And that some Americans count more than others.” Same old Obama.
In his 2004 Democratic National Convention speech, he famously declared, “There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America—there’s the United States of America.” It was the line that launched him and made millions across party lines believe he could bridge divides.
Obama won the presidency with just over 52% of the popular vote, but he entered the Oval Office in January 2009 with a nearly 70% approval rating. Polls in late 2008 and early 2009 showed both Black and white Americans believed race relations would improve under his leadership.
By the time he left office in 2017, polls showed majorities or pluralities of both Blacks and whites thought race relations had gotten worse.