Kind of a complex reply. Coates wasn't taking a side as much as illustrating Obama's presidential narrative from the perspective of an objective Black Male journalist. That distinction is important.
Re: Change... Nobody affects "all" of anything, right?. Black people aren't a monolithic voice. As with any energizing personality, he had some impact. For example, let's take something many non-black people take for granted; The idea of seemingly healthy family, intelligent, cohesive, holding the highest office in the land. That's baseball and apple pie americana, right? Like even if it's uncommon, it's not unrealistic.
Like Coates describes, it just wasn't real for most black families. Probably as tangible as becoming billionaires or going to mars. However, it only takes a Jay-Z or little Curiosity to make something absurd, possible. So when a picture of a little black boy rubs the hair of a man who looks like him and has hair like him, the idea of being president (or test pilot), isn't so fantastic.
Re: Trayvon....what Coates was saying was that Obama - even with carefully measured words - was damned either way. Reminding people that he was black, was the gasoline on the kindling of our heated debate.
