BHO wasn't elected because he is black.

From time to time, people write or say that the current president and head of the Executive Branch of the USA was elected because he is black.    This is of course not true at all, although it's certainly understandable how some people might think of it as such.  It's notable, it's historic, it's cool.  But it's not true.    Why then was he elected?


If one is going to claim Barack Hussein Obama II was elected President of the United States (affectionately referred to by some as PotUS)  because he's black?   One might as well say "he was elected because he was" for any of the following reasons in that case.

1. Black.
2. Male..    
3. Not John McCain.
4. Comparatively young.
5. Constitutional law professor-type lawyer.
6. From Chicago
7. A Democrat.
8. Not directly associated with anyone much from the last 30 or so years; Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush.
9. Not a Republican.
10. Not a woman.
11. Promoted to the population of the USA more effectively than his opponent was.

After all, those are all to some extent true.   Yet they don't explain the core reason, the overriding cause of the effect.     As in, there were other black candidates from multiple  parties  to choose from at some point during the process leading up to 2008, as there have been many times during many election cycles.  If it's historical to look at, a woman has never been PotUS either, and the primary process didn't go that way.    One might even argue that given that the DNA of everyone on the planet originates in Africa, there's nothing particularly important or meaningful about the skin color of a candidate.   Except perhaps for those people who think there's something special about the color of somebody's skin.....   Although as we've spoken of at length before, it seems everyone does, sadly enough. 

Yet why would anyone prefer some unimportant trait over another when it comes to choosing the head of the US Excecutive Branch in 2008?

So there is one simple reason that explains it all quite well more so than any other answer.  Except perhaps the overly obvious one.    That being that "he 'got more Electors' than the opponent did".   That's like explaining why a football team won as "they had more points than the other team did".   It explains it perfectly while telling nobody anything.    It's a what not a why.  

No, the simple answer as to why Obama was elected president is that he was more charismatic than McCain is.   The voters liked him more.  He resonated with the populace.    Out of the two choices available, the voters preferred him overall for the position of the country's CEO.   He won the popularity contest.

There is that other consideration as well, but that we'll leave for next time.