By George E. Curry

Like knowing where you were the moment John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the defining question for this generation is: Where were you and what were you doing when you learned that Barack Obama had been elected president?

Those of us in our late 50s or older remember both. When I learned about the death of JFK, I was a 16-year-old student walking the halls of Druid High School in Tuscaloosa, Ala. When news flashed across the television screen on Nov. 4, 2008 that Obama had been elected the 44th president of the United States, I was in the office of the Baltimore Afro, where I was working at the time as an editorial consultant.

I knew that Obama had a reasonable chance of winning, but I also knew this was America. He was attempting to succeed where so many African Americans—Frederick Douglass, Dick Gregory, Shirley Chisholm, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Carol Moseley Braun, Lenora Fulani and Ron Daniels, among others—had failed.

Prior to the election, I had written a column saying that this time I would be voting for my departed ancestors: my stepfather who instilled in me a love of reading, my Big Mama who wrapped me in unconditional love, and my Uncle Frank who could neither read nor write. When Obama won, I thought about them.

In a fair America, there would have never been any doubt about the outcome of the general election. Obama, a Harvard-trained lawyer with two Ivy League degrees, had mastered the issues and had a plan for pulling us out of the economic doldrums. On the other hand, John McCain, his Republican challenger, was clueless. But he is white. And in this country, that frequently trumps everything else.

Not this time. Pride bubbled over not in just seeing Obama walk that little walk of his before thousands in Chicago’s Grant Park, but seeing Michelle, Malia and Sasha with him. I remembered historian John Hope Franklin saying that it was perhaps more important to see that black family in the White House than the single figure of Barack Obama.

The next morning, I got up early to confirm that I had not been dreaming. Television reports, newspapers and stories I read on the Internet indeed confirmed, as Jesse Jackson said when I covered his 1984 presidential campaign, we had moved from the outhouse to the White House. Yes, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, built by slave labor, would be occupied by descendants of slaves.

Before the news of Obama’s victory could fully sink in, I began to worry about how long it would be before someone would take a shot at him. Literally. We have a bloody history of this happening: Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Even conservatives such as Alabama Governor George C. Wallace and President Ronald Reagan had been shot, though not fatally.

As it turns out, I had reason to be concerned. According to Ronald Kessler’s book, “In the President’s Secret Service,” Obama faces 30 potential death threats a day. Death threats against President Obama have increased 400 percent over the 3,000 per year that George W. Bush received.

Some of the threats have been encouraged from some unlikely places. Steven L. Anderson, pastor of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Ariz., delivered a sermon in August titled, “Why I Hate Barack Obama”, and urged his follower s to pray for the death of the president. A day later, one of his parishioners, Christopher Broughton, carried a loaded AR-15 semiautomatic rifle to an Obama speech. He was not arrested because it is not illegal to openly carry a gun in Arizona.

Those on the right who have not tried to kill President Obama with bullets have tried to kill him with words. For example, talk show host Glenn Beck labeled him a racist who has “a deep-seated hatred for white people and the white culture.”

Obama firmly embraces both sides of his biracial heritage. He has spoken often and fondly about being reared by his white grandparents. That’s hardly the portrait of someone who hates white people.

The president has also been attacked by Republicans, who have opposed every major initiative he has proposed. The GOP, with Michael Steele, a black man, leading the way, has become the party of no. No to universal health care. No to a stimulus plan to jumpstart the economy. No to rebuilding and reforming Wall Street. No to everything and yes to nothing.

A Gallup poll released Monday shows nearly half of all African Americans—47 percent—say they are satisfied with the direction the country is moving under Obama, compared to only 10 percent in mid-2008. Not surprisingly, only 10 percent of Republicans share that view. Among white Democrats, 38 percent expressed satisfaction, a 33-point gain and an increase over the 5 percent in June/July 2008. Black Democrats registered a 51 percent satisfaction rate, an increase from 7 percent in 2008, representing a 44 percent gain.

However, Tuesday’s election results, while not a direct referendum on Obama, showed some cracks in the coalition that elected him a year ago, especially among independents, suburban voters and those with family incomes of less than $50,000. Blacks remained loyal to Democrats but turned out in fewer numbers on November 3. If Obama is to be successful, he cannot afford to ignore a group that gave him 95 percent of its vote.

More than anything else, President Obama’s election gave everyone, especially African-American youth, the audacity to hope. Now, when asked if they can grow up to become president of the United States, they can honestly reply, “Yes, I Can.”

George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com You can also follow him at twitter.com/currygeorge.