Eugene Robinson, Washington Post - This Consequential Presidency

...Obama, by contrast, was met by tens of thousands of Baltimoreans who braved subfreezing temperatures to cheer the new president.
...
Since Obama's election, I've heard more than one friend joke sardonically that the nation has said: Sure, a black man can run the country; go right ahead and take your turn -- now that the economy is in the tubes, the financial system is a wreck, we're mired in two wars, global warming is parboiling the planet, the government has been forced to spend a trillion dollars or more just to stave off utter ruin, and there's precious little money left to finance desperately needed reforms in health care, education, energy, infrastructure...

cognitive dissonance: Definition from Answers.com

Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously.