Obama and Race

People are really going to too far in talking about the significance of Obama's election on race relations or on racism in the US. It has no bearing to or impact on racism in the US whatsoever. Remember that 90% of white voters in Alabama did not vote for him. This notion is akin to the argument that the election of Thatcher in UK ended sexism in that country, or that if a poor person wins the lottery it means that poverty and classism are eliminated. These are exceptions to the rule, and don't alter the socio-economic structure (or inftra-structure as Marx would call them) of society.