Obama, Osama and the NBA Factor

Osama Bin Laden

President Barack Obama has achieved what two other American presidents failed to do -- kill Osama Bin Laden.

I first learned of this on social media and I soon started checking out reliable news sites to confirm the news. Soon, the AP and CNN confirmed that a military strike had indeed killed the world’s most wanted terrorist.

But this leads to a deeper point about the presidency and race. Obama has already broken through the glass ceiling and achieved a position that many thought was reserved for white men. That in itself has created much anxiety among some White Americans who were already fearful about their rapidly shrinking majority.

I believe many white people were secretly scared not of Obama failing, but of him succeeding. This is what I call the NBA factor. The NBA was once an industry made up of exclusively white males. But in the 1950s, black athletes were allowed to compete, and eventually dominated the industry. Now the NBA is almost 80 percent black and black athletes are the face of the sport.

The NBA is an example of a place where black men have been given a chance, and have not only succeeded but also dominated. The NBA factor translates these fears to the board room and now politics. I believe many white employers are reluctant to let black men into the board room, because they are scared of them succeeding.

Obama’s presidency was unique because he simply couldn’t fail. If he done a terrible job, many Americans would have said, “That’s the last time I am voting for a black candidate.”

Now Barack Obama has done a more than competent job as president. including rescuing the economy from collapse, saving the U.S. car industry, passing health care reform, withdrawing troops from Iraq and now killing Osama Bin Laden, you have to wonder if some white people are saying, “It’s like the NBA, now they are going to take over.”