Guess Who's Coming to the White House?

This past election was something to never forget. America finally matured enough to elect an African American as president, opening doors to opportunities for many other peoples. We learned a lot about our President. We meet his lovely and elegant wife Michelle, we meet their beautiful girls Sasha and Malia, and we are still waiting to see the first pet of America. Not only that but we came to recognize the life of President Obama, thus far. His mother and father would be proud of their son if they could see him today. Come to think of it President Obama's parents (Stanley Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr.) symbolizes a movie that debuted not to long after President Obama's birth and that movie is Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

In the movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, (Columbia Pictures,1967) directed by Stanley Kramer, a young white woman, Joanna "Joey" Drayton, (played by Katherine Houghton) meets an African American man, Dr John Prentice, (played by Sidney Poitier) in Hawaii while on holiday. She brings him home to meet her parents. Her parents, Matt and Christina Drayton, (Matt played by Spencer Tracy and Christina played by Katherine Hepburn) did not know she was getting married so when they meet the doctor they were not surprised. But when she told them that Dr. Prentice was her fiancé then things changed. Eventually Dr. Prentice's parents knew about the marriage but were shocked to see the bride to be. Tension filled the atmosphere when they all meet but all came to some common ground.

The movie showcases an outdated but still a very controversial issue which is race. Joey (Joanna) was raised by her parents and a black maid. Her parents are upper class, both with high status professions. They have money. As far as their political views, ideals, and values are concerned it is somewhat difficult to say. One key point that they did bring up is how they raised their daughter. Christina said that they did not teach her to hate any race and that all races should be considered equal, which is a very liberal ideal. But they never did say "don't marry outside your race!" Joey did and brought him home to meet mom and dad. This is somewhat similar to Obama's parents' relationship.

Stanley Ann Dunham (Anna) met Barack Obama Sr. in Hawaii while they were attending school together at University of Hawaii in Manoa. They married not too long after they've met. Anna was a white woman from Kansas while Obama Sr. was an African (the first African to attend that school) from Kenya. They had Obama together.

Their marriage wasn't as delightful as Joey's and Dr. Prentice probably was. The Obamas ended their marriage officially not even five years later due to multiple reasons. This of course is beside the point.

In the movie Mr. Drayton and Dr. Prentice were having a discussion, kind of kicking the dirt around before getting down to the matter of things. Mr. Drayton asked about if they were to get married what of their children? He was concerned that they will be chastised and ridiculed for being mixed. Dr Prentice said that Joanna believes that all of their children could be president of the United States. Obama Sr. and Anna's child is the 44^th President of the United States (and the First African American one, at that). Surely during their time together their relationship was frowned upon. Perhaps they too were concerned that Obama Jr. would be ridiculed. Thankfully he grew up in a time where he was, for the most part, accepted by all races. That would be the case of Joey and Dr. Prentice's children, as well, since they would be around the same age as President Obama today.

Anna studied anthropology while Obama Sr. studied economics. Obama Sr. studied in America and perused his profession in Kenya but took a turn for the worst much later. This was well after his divorce with Anna. Anna went to Indonesia pursing a career in rural development. Now, in the movie Mr. Drayton told his wife that Dr. Prentice was a well decorated doctor with a brilliant idea for medicine in Africa. It is merely coincidence that both Obama Sr. and Dr. Prentice would go to work and help further the development in Africa. It seems as though it would be more of an obligation more so than mere coincidence though; as if it was the duty of every successful black man to help out their mother country. Who is to say President Obama won't do the same? Africa is his home, after all.

Overall, the movie can almost be the prelude to President Barack Obama II with a few altercations. It is funny that there are some close similarities between them. What's really funny is that out of all of this we do have a President who had parents that had an interracial marriage. It just comes to show the history really does repeat itself and this time it was for the better.