This was an excellent essay from The Establishment Bar Blogspot.
The Man Who Broke Them
Posted by T.LaFauci
March 31, 2025
The Republican Party died on November 4th, 2008.
On that night, a man overcame four centuries of our country’s history; a history designed to ensure that someone like him never achieved what he was about to achieve. Strike one: this man’s father was a Black African immigrant. Strike two: this man’s mother was White and forced to raise him as a single mother. Strike three: this man was biracial, with the Black half of his identity now tied to four centuries of struggle. Strike four: this man attended primary school internationally, an experience traditionally reserved for those of a certain income level. Strike five: this man attended an elite Ivy League university, one whose admissions were only opened to him through progressive policies designed to open doors to historically underrepresented populations. And strike six: this man entered politics, a profession that had throughout its history been an old boys’ club and one where your family name, bank account, and personal connections determined your success or lack thereof.
When the “skinny kid with a funny name” overcame all six of these strikes to become president, the Republican Party blew a gasket. For two hundred and thirty years, the conservative party in this country had done everything in its power to keep people like Barack Obama from reaching the pinnacle. From our nation’s founding document that made slaves 3/5 of a person up through the Civil Rights movement, conservatives had actively opposed any and all legislation designed to level the playing field. In the wake of the Civil War when slavery was outlawed, conservatives quickly enacted Jim Crow laws to prevent Black ascension. Blacks struggled to own property and were eventually redlined out of various communities. Blacks were denied the right to vote and faced intimidation and violence for those who dared try. The education of Black children was inherently unequal, something that took the nation until 1954 to finally address. The 13th Amendment may have freed the slaves but Black men and women were never truly free in America.
Then came Barack Hussein Obama.
And for the first time, conservative America saw someone in the Oval Office who did not look like them. Who didn’t have their same life experience. Who could be equally comfortable hosting foreign dignitaries and championship sports teams. Here was someone who, along with the First Lady, was opening the White House to thousands of Black children to experience art and culture in a way that had never been done before. Tan suit and all, Barack Obama was now the most powerful man in the world. He was the Time person of the year. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was a political rock star with the kind of excitement that hadn’t been seen since JFK. With 60 Democrats and independent votes in the Senate and a House majority, Barack Obama was poised to be a transformative president in a way that would forever change how Americans viewed people of color in leadership positions.
Republicans understood all of this. They understood that a successful Barack Obama would undermine their entire existence. After all, the country’s conservative platform throughout its history was predicated on the status quo. They were against women’s suffrage. They were against civil rights. They were against LGBTQ equality. Having a Black man elected president was a massive step forward for Democrats and one that threatened conservative dogma. If Barack Obama could overcome so much, so too could others. Barack Obama was a trailblazer, and his presidency would set the stage for those who would follow. If somehow he were to be unsuccessful, that would set back future leaders of color from ascending to that same position. Republicans had a clear choice: work with Barack Obama to help everyday Americans or work against him to try and rebuild their power.
I will always contend that it was President Obama’s RE-ELECTION that broke the GOP.
Never forget: Willard received the same percentage of the White vote in 2012 that Trump did in 2016.
Obama’s crime wasn’t being Black.
His true crime was Black and Excellent.
THAT is what broke them.