Race, sure. But I don't remember anybody very excited by any ideology he may have had. It was more a matter of feel-good slogans, "inspiring" photo ops, and not being Bush.
I agree with most of what Citizen has to say; but, I also agree with you X - I don’t think that most that voted for him did so because of his ideology (I don’t think he always showed his true ideology - remember, he threw the Rev. Wright and others under the bus). And, I would add that he told a lot of lies. IMHO during his first campaign he didn’t say a lot that most would “get” (except FReepers and other conservatives). He said a lot of things, but nothing really substantive - people believed he was speaking to them and they heard what they wanted to hear. He couched his messaging and speeches to same - leaving a lot to be meant for an individual’s interpretation.