I woke up this morning and the world felt different. I live in the same city, I have the same house, and I did my usual morning routine. What made today so different? Let me backtrack for a minute.

Like millions of other blacks the night before, I was glued to my TV watching Super Tuesday election coverage and optimistically monitoring updates on the latest poll numbers. When Barack Obama had 349 of 538 electoral votes from Maverick and Republican challenger Sen. John McCain, well above the 270 needed to win, the announcement (or "likely projection") of Obama's victory was finally announced.

The moment was supremely surreal and I was rendered mute. I became transfixed by the overwhelming magnitude of this historically momentous occasion and could only grasp the reality of it all when bombarded by celebratory calls from friends and family members.

It wasn't the witnessing of one small step for (a) man on the moon, and one large step for mankind, but it was the coronation of the first black President to enter the White House - something that many (including myself) never believed they'd see in their lifetimes.

The media captured the euphoria that was seemingly felt around the world via satellite. The elation was palpable as droves of people rejoiced - with the exception of the lingering haters during McCain's concession speech (his best speech of the election) who booed at the mention of Obama's name.

After sobering from the beatitude, I wondered how black men - as a group - felt about the events that just transpired. How would they share in the triumph? Did they truly feel the gravity of the situation? Would they celebrate and embrace this re-positioning opportunity?

The term "position" or "positioning" was created by marketing pioneers Al Ries and Jack Trout in the 70s. According to them, position simply means to occupy a unique position in one's mind. Positioning should be thought of and used as an element of strategy.

The next day I awoke and I dove into the sea of political commentary. Analysts had comments on everything from how Obama won the election, to how McCain lost it, to the triviality of Michelle Obama's wardrobe choice. But nothing - once again - on this wonderful, undeniable, and compelling impetus for the long overdue black male movement that I wrote about in my article, The Barack Obama Effect On Black Men.

So I had to write this article on the re-positioning of the black male; an instructional guide on how black men can follow President Obama's lead and add momentum to the black male movement which is now in motion.

Let me start by saying that while both blacks and whites adroitly handled racial issues in this election with stunning diplomacy, we all know - whether we care to admit it or not - that race, like sexuality, is always an issue. The question is whether we can transcend the racial issues. It's second nature to some. Some achieve it with greater difficulty. Both receive painful reminders that racism still exists when they least expect them. I still have a vivid memory of the octogenarian who out of nowhere referred to Obama as an Arab while McCain campaigned in Lakeville, Minnesota (a state that Obama won).

Sobering reminders aside, we've undoubtedly crossed an epic racial barrier - but we still have many battles to be fought. Those issues (some of which are addressed in this article) can now be dealt with openly since they were eclipsed by universal concerns during the election. After all, black issues are esoteric. Focus upon them would create an imbalance of focus.

Obama's campaign team, lead by David Plouffe, and his chief strategist David Axelrod, have acknowledged that one of the key tenets of the campaign was, in fact, to avoid discussions focused on race. From polling and interviews, the campaign concluded from the outset that it was imperative to define Obama's candidacy in terms that would transcend skin color.

Who were their first efforts aimed at? Blacks. Apparently, they deemed it imperative to get blacks to move beyond their "natural" skepticism that one of their own could indeed become president. They knew that Obama would have to position himself to be chosen as a leader because leaders don't choose their followers; followers choose their leaders - regardless of race.

In a report on MSNBC.com by Adam Nagourney, Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny, Obama's campaign team made the following quote, "The biggest race problem we had to solve was not with the white voters," Mr. Axelrod said, "but with African-American voters, a deep sense of skepticism that this might happen."

How about that?

These are called intraracial issues. They offer a window, if not a measurement, into just how long the roots of negativity and its insidious effects can have on the psyche of an oppressed people. Were we really skeptical? Yes, initially, but we were not doubtful of Obama's competence; we were doubtful of his chances based upon our system, and our individual and collective black experiences.

After identifying the hurdles to the White House, Obama's camp had their agenda, a mission, and a message. They were all set to execute a textbook course on re-positioning Obama, and offer America's black men - who were paying attention - invaluable lessons that they could use to transform their lives and achieve greater success in their professional endeavors.

This brings us to lesson 1 in re-positioning the black male: remove skepticism - primarily your own - and identify the hurdles to your success.

With their campaign mantra of Change you can believe in, and Yes we can!, they created a strategy that would enable them to fuel hope and engender allegiance at a time when our nation is at war and in dire economic straits, while simultaneously instilling optimism into the psyches of African Americans, and the vast majority of Americans in the process.

The strategy was brilliant, but not surprising when you consider that Obama wrote a book entitled The Audacity Of Hope, in which he wrote: "Hope is that thing inside of us that insists, despite evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it." The tears that flowed so copiously during his acceptance speech were tears of hope. He clearly understands that one can not have hope without optimism. He may want to entitle his next book The Benefits Of Optimism.

Lesson 2 in re-positioning the black male: understand the mental and emotional state of the people you serve in order to inspire optimism. Build a bridge from them to you (not the other way around).

Psychologist Martin Seligman, author of the book Learned Optimism, says that optimism has been defined by some researchers as simply seeing the silver lining and suggests that your explanation for why something happens has a major impact on how you will act in the future and what result your actions will bring about. This in turn has an eventual impact on your self-esteem and self-image. Optimists expect the best outcome, even during setbacks, and they're more motivated to bring it about.

This is the reason why a record number of blacks, youth, and first time voters shed their apathy and zealously headed to the polls in record numbers which accounted for 13 percent of the electorate.

The significance of optimism is not to be understated. Since studies show that black men live 7.1 years less than other racial groups, have higher death rates than women for all leading causes of death, and experience disproportionately higher death rates in all the leading causes of death, they'd be interested to know that increased optimism has health benefits. The May 2008 issue of Harvard Men's Health Watch explores possible reasons for this connection.

Among the report findings: Highly pessimistic men were three times more likely to develop hypertension, and people who display positive emotions had lower blood pressures. In one study, the most pessimistic men were more than twice as likely to develop heart disease compared with the most optimistic. That's welcomed news since 40% of black men die prematurely from cardiovascular disease as compared to 21% of white men.

The report concludes: These results argue persuasively that optimism is good for health. It is possible that optimists enjoy better health and longer lives because they lead healthier lifestyles, build stronger social support networks, and get better medical care. In addition, optimism itself may have biological benefits, such as lower levels of stress hormones and less inflammation.

Because I know that many black men are church-going folks, they are sure to revel in the fact that the Bible also contains scripture on optimism and its effects. (Matthew 8:25-27) Pessimism results from lack of faith. Pessimism is born of doubt; optimism is born of faith.

The re-positioned black male will have more faith in himself and will prove to be adept at garnering the faith of those who were once reluctant to give it. Being extraordinary will be the norm.

Cornell Belcher, a pollster who worked for Obama's campaign and studies racial voting patterns said to the press, "It would be difficult for an African-American to be elected president in this country; however, it is not difficult for an extraordinary individual who happens to be African-American to be elected president."

Obama made mention of this in his acceptance speech when he said, "I was never the likeliest candidate for the office." But he ran anyway. And he ran unlike any other presidential candidate in history because he had to. Analysts say he ran a perfect campaign that was extraordinary in its execution.

Lesson 3 in re-positioning the black male: being qualified begins in your mind with your own self-image; the least likeliest candidate can still get the job. Also, you are no longer the least likeliest candidate.

And let's be clear on this: it's not you - as a person or a professional - that has to be extraordinary; it's your effort - that's what defines character. Conversely, lack of effort reveals lack of character.

Obama left nothing up for chance. Even after he took a double-digit lead in the polls and earned the affection of the media, he put forth extraordinary effort to finish strong and get the results he was seeking; proving my father to be correct when he told me as a little boy that black men have to work three times harder than white men to achieve the same success.

Lesson 4 in re-positioning the black male: accept my father's words as fact and just deal with that reality.

It was obvious from the outset that Obama was a proficient politician, but he got better during the election in the same manner that any talented and driven athlete gets better as their season progresses. He became superlative during the playoffs of politics, the election run, and was simply indomitable in each of his debates. He didn't just win the election, he restored faith in the integrity of the presidency while re-positioning himself and showcasing a refined character.

Lesson 5 in re-positioning the black male: showcase solid character at all times.

Where does the process of building character begin? At the very beginning of your journey: at home with your parents. It intensifies when you are pursuing the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to navigate through your career while in college. It doesn't matter where you want the journey to take you because as I tell the students in my Career Planning class at San Francisco State University, most people can't imagine where they are going to end-up, but they need to be prepared to succeed when they get there.

Chances are Obama didn't imagine being president when he was working with victims of housing and employment discrimination. That experience, along with teaching at the University of Chicago Law, and landing a spot in the senate clearly helped him acquire the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to navigate through the slippery slopes of the political process without getting tripped up - despite the disproportionate lack of experience he had in comparison to McCain.

Lesson 6 in re-positioning the black male: lack of experience does not equate lack of opportunity. Refer back to the footnote on the link between lack of effort and lack of character in lesson 3.

As previously stated, for many Americans character takes shape in college. For black men, college attendance - on the community college and university level - is dwindling. According to the spring 2006 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System survey (IPEDS), Black, non-Hispanic male students had the lowest three-year graduation rate - 16 percent - among all minority male community college students.

In 2004, Kay McClenney, director of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, said of the disparity in educational attainment between well-off and poor students, and between White and Black and Hispanic students: "The gap is dangerous. It is intolerable. It is a blight on America's future. And it is worse in community colleges than elsewhere in post-school education."

In an article published in 2007, Disappearing Acts: The Vanishing Black Male On Community College Campuses, Lorenzo I. Esters and Dr. David C. Mosby write: What is most alarming about the current state of the Black male on America's community college campuses is that those who are in positions of leadership have been slow to recognize the situation as a state of emergency and have been almost reluctant to own up to their responsibility to take corrective action. The accumulated research studies on the subject of Black male student retention may be a source for community colleges to gain some insight as to how they may appropriately respond to the epidemic.

Over the past 33 years, black women have enrolled in four-year colleges at higher rates than have black men, according to the results of a new study conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. In 2004, black women comprised 59.3 percent of all first-time, full-time black students attending four year institutions, compared to 54.5 percent in 1971.

"The findings reveal that the gender gap is not a new issue among black college students, but it continues to widen in many areas of access, achievement, and important college and graduate school preparation behaviors." Said the lead author of the report, Walter R. Allen, UCLA professor of education and of sociology.

With this type of research and data, why haven't there been any special initiatives or greater outreach from colleges to address this issue? My research found a potential answer:

Black male enrollments are shockingly low at many colleges and universities, even those with good track records at attracting a diverse student body. While some demographers have noted this situation for years, many colleges have shied away from dealing with the issue head on, fearing that doing so could reinforce stereotypes, offend women, or draw conservative criticism.

Perhaps Obama will put this on his ever growing list of priorities. He's well aware of the problem and has referred to it on several occasions, the first in his Democratic National Convention speech when he stated: "Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents (and) that government can't turn off the television and make a child do his homework...that fathers must take more responsibility to provide love and guidance to their children."

Last year, at the NAACP forum on July 12, 2007, he was also quoted as saying: "We have more work to do when more young black men languish in prison than attend colleges and universities across America."

The Bureau of Justice Statistics says that statement is inaccurate and says that Obama was perpetuating the long-held, and widely-believed fallacy that there are more black men in prison than there is in college.

Obama based his statement on data from 2000 - when that was actually true. The latest figures show that 530,000 of these African-American males, or twenty eight percent, were enrolled in colleges or universities (including two-year-colleges) since 2005. That is five times the number of young black men in federal and state prisons and two and a half times the total number incarcerated who are college age (18 - 25). But there are still more black women on college and university campuses than black men.

Just how many black males are languishing regardless of age? There are 4,618 black males incarcerated per 100,000 black males in the United States. Of those black males, the age groups from 25-29, represents 11,695 per 100,000. (That's 11.7% of Black men in their late 20s.)

That's far too many sons without their fathers, mothers without their sons, wives without their husbands, siblings without their brothers, and misguided black men whose ill-advised choices resulted in the termination of their freedom to make further choices. For many of these men (of which every black family has at least 1), they simply do not see the consequences of their ill-advised choices because their values are eschewed and they engage in behaviors that result in them being locked-up, or held back.

Lesson 6 in re-positioning the black male: increase and expand your education. That includes, but is not limited to, enrolling in school. Education builds character and is a crucial tactic in our overall success strategy. Education shapes values, alters perspectives, and fosters altruism. Studies show that there is a direct link between increased education and decreased levels of crime and violence - even within the prison system.

Education is the fountain from which our tactical resolutions to the previously stated problems, and those which have plagued us for centuries will be spawned. The re-positioned black male must encourage the next generation of black men to take interest in pursuits other than sports and entertainment. We need to deepen our talent pool of future policy makers who can instigate and sustain change. A generation of young men, who like Obama, know the difference between a tactic and a strategy and are efficient at getting results with both.

In the first debate, McCain repeatedly accused Obama of lacking experience, being naive, and most ironically, not knowing the difference between a tactic and a strategy. It was a portentous allegation. Let's consult Merriam's Dictionary and examine their definitions more closely:

Tactic: a device for accomplishing an end.
Strategy: a careful plan or method: a clever stratagem b: the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal.

As McCain went down in defeat, state after state, it should have become abundantly clear that "that one," (a.k.a Obama), not only know knows the difference between tactics and strategies, but has mastered them. It proves that you don't have to be a former prisoner of war to know how tactics and strategies (from which many references to war are made in its many definitions) can help you accomplish your goals.

Lesson 7 in re-positioning the black male: triumph in the workplace comes when employers are comfortable with you and the role in which you play and your perceived ability to handle the challenges in that role, alignment of your values with their own, and your ability to effectively manage the expectations of the people who you serve. It truly is a matter of tactics and strategies.

Therein lies the crux of President Obama's success - and the success that can be had by the re-positioned black male if he takes heed to the lessons provided. Positioning is an art, a psychology, a science. It's not just for the artful, the psychological, or the scientific; it's for the determined visionaries who want better lives and a greater share of resources for their families, their communities, and themselves.

We have reached our most significant milestone as black men and we must now look ahead to the future and prepare for it in the present the way Obama did when he contained his emotions, less than 30 minutes after being elected, and had the presence of mind during his shining moment, to take the opportunity to manage soaring expectations by making his most sagacious remark:

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there...there will be setbacks (see paragraph above on optimism and setbacks) and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree."

Final Lesson in the re-positioning the black male: seize the moment and always look ahead to the future.

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