Cambridge , Massachusetts ( CNN ) -- Throughout President Barack Obama 's political career , he has been dogged by insinuations or , indeed , accusations that he is not `` black enough '' to warrant strong support from African-Americans . Rep. Bobby Rush made that assertion when he successfully fended off Obama 's effort to wrest from him his seat in the House of Representatives in the Democratic primary in 2000 . Alan Keyes voiced that sentiment in his losing campaign against Obama for the U.S. Senate . When Obama accepted the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party , the celebrity scholar Cornel West groused that the first African-American standard-bearer for a major party had `` run from history '' by failing to mention explicitly the `` black freedom movement . '' Skepticism regarding Obama 's racial bona fides has continued to surface since he moved into the White House . Rep. Maxine Waters , for instance , has recently chided him for failing to craft policies that would explicitly target black unemployment and for otherwise neglecting , in her view , to evince a proper acknowledgment of the baleful and disproportionate pain being experienced in black communities on account of the economic downturn . What is one to make of this critique ? First , it should not be at all surprising . Black America is ideologically diverse , just like other communities . Moreover , as I document in `` Sellout : The Politics of Racial Betrayal , '' there exists in black America a special anxiety about the loyalties of high achievers , especially when their success is largely dependent on whites and others who are not black . Every prominent black in a predominantly white setting faces , at one time or another , claims from fellow blacks that he or she is `` selling out . '' Second , Obama 's black detractors receive a degree of attention in the news media that is far greater than their representativeness of black America or their influence within it . The great bulk of black American voters -- upward of 90 % -- supported Obama in 2008 and do so today . They do so because of his party affiliation , his liberal policy preferences , his identification with the African-American community ( the offspring of an interracial couple , he calls himself black and married a black woman ) , his personal attractiveness -- he is uncommonly articulate , handsome , knowledgeable and gracious -- and the fact that with all of the added burdens attendant to his blackness , he was still able to climb the Mount Everest of American politics . Unlike some of Obama 's most vocal detractors , the black rank-and-file have a realistic appreciation of the limits of his authority and the power of the forces arrayed against him , including a large , albeit amorphous , strain of racial resentment . Pained by the economic recession , they refrain from blaming Obama and instead direct their ire at those who not only saddled the first black chief executive with such a harrowing task of cleanup but also obstruct him relentlessly and often with barely disguised contempt . Third , even though Obama 's black detractors constitute currently only a small sliver of African-American public opinion , their critique is nonetheless important in practical , electoral terms . It is often the case that a vocal , motivated minority can exercise influence that far exceeds their numbers . Enthusiasm matters . A drumbeat of complaint calling into question Obama 's attentiveness to blacks might well diminish the fervency of the support he will need for his re-election effort . Furthermore , certain actions he might take to respond to the racial critique might well alienate other , nonblack , potential supporters . The race line will ensnare Obama no matter how he proceeds . It will not necessarily defeat him . His epochal victory in 2008 showed that , unlike previous eras , our own is one in which a black politician can overcome racial barriers to win the highest office in the land . Still , the sobering reality is that race remains an important , persistent force in American life despite the presence of a black family in the White House . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Randall Kennedy .
Randall Kennedy : Some black voices have said Obama is n't `` black enough '' He says many blacks who achieve success face similar charges . Kennedy says Obama 's rank-and-file support in black community remains strong . Most realize that Obama is confronting difficult issues , powerful forces , he says .