While many factors contributed to the victory of Barack Obama over John McCain, the post-9/11 War on Terror hung over the 2008 election. By 2008, frustration over the wars in Afghanistan and especially Iraq had created significant opposition to outgoing President George W. Bush and the Republicans who had supported his war efforts, including Senator McCain.

Obama, by contrast, had established himself as an opponent of the invasion of Iraq. And even though he ended up continuing many of the previous War on Terror policies, he was seen as a peacemaker rather than a warmonger, which contributed to his popularity at home and abroad.

An entire generation of Black people is becoming adults who have only known a post-9/11 world. At home and abroad, the various impacts of 9/11 continue to shape our world and particularly impact Black people in the U.S. and around the world.

War-On-Terror

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