Obama's candidacy for president will face the same hurdles that would encumber any presidential candidate whose ethnic background does not match that of the electorate he/she solicits for votes.

A recent poll reviewed in this opinion piece in the New York Times suggests that as clearly as anything.

His post-racial campaign will have to drum up millions of non-traditional voters who do not show up in polls of "likely voters" to negate the effects of racism within the voting booth.

There is already a thread on here about this.

That thread was initiated by concern about his safety - at least according to the link provided, though it has now expired. I am more interested in how it will affect his electability, and the more recent link I provided directly addresses that.

And here is another poll which suggests that there a widening gap between how blacks and whites view race relations in the USA since a similar polls back to 1992.

No group likes to think negatively about itself - and we Americans certainly do not - but the responses to these polls a concerning mirrors on our national psyche.