“The Image of Barack Obama in the American Mass Media” Barack Obama was sworn as the sole African American in the U.S. Senate, and only the fifth in history. He is the highest-ranking African-American elected official in the United States. On November 4, 2008, projections indicated that Obama won the election, making him the President-elect and the first African American elected President of the United States. Obama became so popular, and so far ahead in the general election polls, that he contributed some of his campaign time and money to boost the cause of fellow Democratic candidates. At 43, with a political career that included only eight years as an Illinois state senator, Obama was catapulted to national stardom and became the new darling of the Democratic Party.