Obama’s identity was a deliberate cherry-picking of race and faith

Evidence

Obama’s identification as an Arab was paralleled by his simultaneous identification as a Muslim (in the accusatory tone used for the Jew in classical Christian anti-Semitic parlance). Obama’s father was an African Muslim, his mother an American Christian. 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. — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 578

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Birtherism delegitimated Obama by framing his presidency as unconstitutional — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 201

Related

• Elected leaders can strategically cherry-pick identity components. (similarity 0.88)