Summary

The essay opens with a recollection of a conversation the author had with his mother, a political scientist, right before the 2008 election. She warned him not to wear his Obama shirt in public, for fear of violence. She also argued that white people would find a way to limit African American opportunity, even though Obama would be president. Laymon ended up wearing the shirt anyway. Years later. after Laymon asked himself why people are not asking politicians the right questions, he imagined a lost (not real) 2012 debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama (written in present tense as a sort of transcript).

First, the moderator tells the candidates that they can avoid two questions by stating “that’s the shit I don’t like” (104). Obama’s first question is why so many more African Americans are in...