Sorry, but Obama is a role model

I take Adam Serwer's point here about David Gregory's facile line of thinking with respect to Obama and the effect his election might have on black Americans, but I still think he wildly underestimates the impact adult examples can have on children -- white, black, or whatever else, urban, suburban, or rural.

Granted, a gainfully employed and responsible father and mother who care about reading and thinking and education will be a lot more significant in a child's life than a famous politician the child will never meet. But that hardly means that Barack Obama won't have an impact on black youth as president. Undoubtedly he will because he will be visible (not only on television, as Serwer suggests, but on the Web and in newspapers, magazines, and books, not to mention in conversation), and he will be doing something that for most black Americans seemed impossible until recently. We're talking about a very real paradigm shift.

I haven't heard anyone argue that the election of Barack Obama will have a "magical effect" on the black urban poor. It's not a question of magic. It's a question of psychology. That said, I certainly don't mean to suggest that the existence of a President Obama obviates the need to address in more substantive ways the problems facing blacks in the inner city.