Bill Clinton was widely described in the black community as the first black president. One wonders if this was due to his abuse of women, but in any case the was an ersatz black.

Barrack Obama is almost universally considered the first African-American president, but in reality he is at best half-black. Not only that, be none of his ancestors suffered in slavery or the Jim Crow era discrimination that was common to most African-Americans. He himself was raised in an upper middle class privileged life - never suffering the indignity or public schools, having been provided access to private schooling. Only as an adult did he even see a black ghetto, and his involvement with them was not unlike social workers - able to go home to a nice middle class safe environment at the end of the day.

The first real black president may well be Dr. Carson. He is the offspring of slaves, he is the product of live and schooling in the black ghetto, and he has the up close and personal experience common to most African-Americans.

I, for one, would be very pleased if he becomes the first authentic African-American President.