I remember telling people in early 2008 that racists would go apeshit and our entire political landscape would change if he win the primary/got elected, and being treated as if I was somehow racist at the time.
In hindsight, I was wrong.
Yes, what I predicted, and what you said did happen. But we’re wrong because Obama ran as a progressive, and promptly switched into being a milquetoast centrist democrat. What’s more, is that his supporters didn’t extend their support to other liberal causes.
The tea party would have died on the vine if the Democratic Party let liberals feel empowered, rather than like pawns. And if his die-hard supporters had showed up in 2010, state legislatures wouldn’t have been able to gerrymander away/suppress turnout as much as they did - rendering his next 6 years fraught and an uphill battle.
There are more liberal than conservative people in the U.S., but the Democratic Party does not engage with them, instead chasing the middle, and hoping the liberals hold their noses and cast their vote.