During Obama's first press conference as president-elect, he answered a question about his intention to buy a dog for the family with an ironic sobriety, in the same tone of voice he used to talk about genuinely serious matters, like terrorism or the economy. He explained that because his daughter Malia is allergic, they would have to get a hypoallergenic dog. He also said that they wanted to get a dog from a shelter, where most of the dogs are "mutts, like me." During the campaign, Obama's biraciality was lost except as a marketing tool to reassure white voters. Had he identified explicitly as biracial, rather than black, it would have been seen as a rebuke to the black community. Because of the nature of race in America, black folks have always claimed our mutts, and white people have traditionally refused to. But it's clear from Obama's off-hand remark that being a mutt is never far from his conception of who he is. Obama will be our first black president. But while the rapture of black voters has been given the attention it deserves, what this means to the mutts has been lost. For many of us, growing up was a lonely and confusing experience -- no less so for Obama, who chronicled his journey of race and inheritance in his first book. Seeing one of us ascend to the presidency, someone who has found his balance, who is at peace with the warring tides of identity within him, is incredibly meaningful. To know that he is still a mutt at heart, that he still stands in defiance of the simplistic and inevitable binaries to which his run was subject, means the world to those of us who could never be anything else. --A. Serwer
