In some ways, Obama’s courtship of African American voters is reminiscent of the way white liberal Democrats have tried to gain black support. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign, for example, was adept at reaching out to the African American electorate through channels unseen by average white voters. At the same time, Kennedy routinely went out of his way to allay the fears of white southerners who decried challenges to segregation. If Obama is elected, he is going to face serious fissures in his coalition when it becomes apparent that racial conservatives and racial progressives expect something entirely different from him. Many whites who support him want him to be a black leader in the tradition of Booker T. Washington and will only support him if he lives up to this standard. It will be a rocky road on the racial front if this continues to be the pattern of how decides to forge a bi-racial coalition.