No, they shouldn't be sandblasted, but people have noticed that a "darker" person unconsciously preys upon the unconscious mind of whites. It's a very subtle use of coloration. I tend to think that he looks a tad bit more foreboding with the dark background, which may be the more subtle aspect than darken skin.

People may scoff at this notion, but Drew Westen who wrote the "Political Brain," and he's clinical psychologist and neurologist, has noticed that whites do a tendency to be more apprehensive about dark-skinned blacks than lighter skinned blacks.

I think some of the stuff that surrounds Michelle Obama, a dark skinned woman, is coupled with the notion that she's an "angry black woman."