Elected leaders can strategically cherry-pick identity components.

Evidence

In the course of his life, as had become more publicly evident, Obama had opted to identify with his father’s race but not his religion, and with his mother’s faith but not her race. This not uncommon cherry-picking in identity formation is predicated on the checkered psychological disposition that underlies Obama’s social persona— who he is and who he has willed himself to become. He entered the American political arena as a black man and as a Christian. — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 578

Related

• Obama’s identity was a deliberate cherry-picking of race and faith (similarity 0.88)