It isn't right and it isn't ok

For so many reasons this sugary excerpt from a Guardian piece on Maya Angelou bugs me:

Reflecting on that presidency, what did she expect? "I was hoping for the best. And I think I have gotten the best from him." What of his detractors? "Those are people who didn't see the morass into which he stepped."

He is America's president. But he also describes himself as America's first black president. That, says Angelou, speaking from her home in North Carolina, has had an extraordinary impact on black America. "His physical self, just being there, his photograph in the newspapers as president of the United States; that has done so much good for the spirit of the African American. We see more and more children wanting to be like President Obama, wanting to go to school."

Oh man am I glad I am not a race woman! I have to admit that the fragmentation of American society scares me almost as much as it irks me.