Obama's presidential victory in the 2008 election and public image prompted a public discussion about whether he would shift the ground of critics of 'acting white'. Commentators John McWhorter and Stephen J. Dubner have said that it might. Yahanna of the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a black supremacist sect, did not consider Obama to be black but "African of white descent" and advised African Americans not to vote for him.