Abstract

    In the 2008 United States’ general election, Barack Obama won a landslide victory against his opponent, John McCain, and became the first black president in American history. He has created a political legend, and becomes the key figure of in American politics and in the whole world as well. Large amounts of coverage from the media announce that Obama's success marks that the great progress in black's status rise to the peak, producing a qualitative change.
The America is a country made up of immigrants and their descendants. In this country, racial discrimination is deeply rooted. The black and other minorities have been suffering discrimination both overtly and covertly for more than two hundred years. The living conditions of ethnic minorities have been greatly improved due to their painstaking efforts and unremitting perseverance in fighting for equality. The Obama's election is a qualitative change to the blacks.

Keyword: general election, Barack Obama, status, racial discrimination, policy

摘要

  2008年美国的大选落下帷幕，巴拉克·奥巴马击败对手麦凯恩赢得胜利，成为美国第一位黑人总统。他的胜选创造了一个政治传奇，成为美国政治乃至世界政治的奇迹。媒体大量的报道认为奥巴马的胜选标志着美国黑人的地位上升到一个顶峰，产生了质变。美国是一个由外来移民及后裔组成的国家，在这个国家种族歧视根深蒂固。两百多年来，黑人及其少数民族一直受到不公正的对待。他们经过不懈的努力和艰苦的斗争，地位得到显著提高。而奥巴马的当选对于黑人就是一个质的飞跃。

关键词:大选；奥巴马；地位；种族歧视；政策

1. Introduction
In American history, the black’s status has been at the bottom. They can not get equal rights in political, economic and educational fields. The discrimination to the black has existed since the establishment period of British colonies in North America during 1607-1733. From the example of the founding father of “Political movement of the black” Dover Douglas, we can see that the black's status in politics in the United States has been improved and the discrimination was reducing (Wei 43). However, it is Obama who truly made this point well proved. Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th president of the United States who was born in Hawaii, and his ancestral home is Kenya. Obama is the first black President of the United States. Furthermore, he has rich experience living in different places with different cultural backgrounds. His election fully reflected the black's rising social status. In American history, the black has been struggled for their rights and they have never stopped the effort. In addition to the black, a part of white people also participated in the struggle for their freedom and beliefs.