The "Obama did it" syndrom

One day, I was walking home back from work on telegraph. I was going along my merry way when this black gentleman caught my attention via eye contact. I smile, like I usually do to anyone on the streets. He proceeded to follow me with his eyes and I proceeded to walk. Then he said to me, "you're beautiful, I'd love to take you out some time." I looked back and smiled to show my acknowledgment of his kind words and said "thank you" and went on walking hoping that he'd forget his proposition to "take me out". Finally he whips out the ultimate justification for why I should allow him to take me out: "well now that Obamas in the white house, you know things have changed, you should consider it".

What does one say to that?

To add to this phenomenon ...
I heard on the radio that P Diddy spent thousands of dollars to send in an audition tape to audition to be the next James Bond. Seriously? haha okay this is not to say that I can't imagine a black James bond, I actually think that it would be pretty hot. However, P diddy as an actor is a pretty extreme proposal to swallow.

I actually have another but Obama did it story. It involves a judge who was sided on the verdict of giving a heavy sentence to a restraining order defendant the day after obama was elected. The defendant was enraged and used the we have a black president now line to reprimand the judge's act against him. The Judge, whose name I will leave out was shocked, to say the least.


I think this "Obama did it" syndrome has potential to be trickled down to a more serious discourse by creating some oversight (or maybe as an effect, illuminating) some real big racial problems that exist today. I wonder why the guy on the street brought to my attention the Obama presidency success. Was it because he held the presumption that I would not give him a "chance" because of his color? And what are the implications of Obama's success on the way that African Americans see themselves in their day to day interactions with others today, has much changed before obama's election? These are the underlying questions I ponder...