Barack Obama is the first black American elected president of the United States. He is the first ethnic minority to become head of state of any democratic nation.His rise to the most powerful office in the land is a watershed event in our history and holds immeasurable significance for black Americans and oppressed peoples not only in this country, but also all over the world.

Only a handful of years ago, few would have dreamed that a black man might assume the office of president in a country marred by a sordid history of racism and discrimination.

His story, for many, exemplifies the American Dream.

But for just as many, the American Dream remains an intangible and impossible goal. We’re told that only hope and a raw desire to do better are required for success. It’s the Great American Way, the old idea that upward mobility simply challenges the average man to pull him or herself up by the bootstraps.

Barack Obama’s success at the polls seems to validate the American Dream, as many look to this moment in history as a shining example of how a black man of humble origins can win the support of a country historically fractured by racial divides. His supporters claim that he shattered the glass ceiling and succeeded because this country is ready for change.

While Obama’s victory certainly signifies a shift in our country’s perception of race, we must acknowledge that nothing fundamentally changed after Nov. 4. We should rejoice that the majority of the country is comfortable electing a bi-racial president, but still consider the staunch opposition Obama faced in the lead-up to this moment.

Some of McCain’s most avid supporters readily portrayed Obama as a Muslim. Whether through subtle attack ads or bold-faced claims, many of Obama’s opponents fell back on tried-and-true scare tactics once it became evident that Obama’s appeal extended beyond the Democrats’ traditional demographics.

Especially when the country lies at a crossroads, drumming up fears of “otherness” and “elitism” has always proven effective at invalidating the opposition.

Dare we forget the bigoted and hateful outbursts elicited by Floridian Palin admirers? Or the telling statement of one McCain supporter, worried about Obama’s religious beliefs: “I don’t trust Obama . he’s an Arab.”

Obama possibly being Muslim wasn’t problematic; the fact that people believed and still believe there is something inherently wrong with being Muslim, however, is very troubling and indicates how little has really changed within our social discourse on race and religion.

Conversely, there are those who have questioned Obama’s conceptualization of himself and his dedication to his community. Jesse Jackson ventured a controversial assessment of the candidate, claiming Obama was not “black” enough to suitably represent the hopes and dreams of black Americans.

Sivlio Berlusconi, prime minister of Italy, joked that Obama “has all the qualities to get along well with (Russian President Medvedev): he’s young, handsome and suntanned.”

According to Berlusconi, even the most transformative figures in history must be white, albeit nicely tanned.

And so it is that some people try fervently to generalize any one aspect of Obama’s identity and then frame him as weak or disloyal because he does not fit the criteria of what a president ought to be, or what a black man is.

“He’s just enough of everything to be accepted by everyone,” said Jada Drew, africana community coordinator. “That’s truly him . that’s his identity.”

The debate over Obama’s “blackness” is moot at this point. Unfortunately, the dialogue on race was less about how Obama defined himself and more about how others were struggling to categorically label him a black man and a Muslim, or an elitist and a sell-out.

Let us not slip unconsciously into that insidious notion of a color-blind society. Though Obama has achieved what many thought impossible, the struggle for equality is still waged in our schools, our workplaces, and our very neighborhoods. Race is all too real because inequality is still so ghastly evident in every facet of our society.

Obama’s election is a thrilling indicator of what we can expect in the future; it is not a capstone to a problem now solved and forgotten.

The last thing Obama wants is for his unlikely story of success to be turned against those for whom his achievement means the most.