We did it! We turned Virginia blue! I, for one, am ecstatic. There is something about the way Obama speaks and approaches the questions I need answered. He seems thoughtful, intelligent, and aware. After eight years of listening to a bumbling, mentally blank, word abusing and misusing fool — I can’t wait to take in Obama’s eloquence. I am giddy at the promise of his presidency.
I am not, however, pleased with the backlash. I hate that (white) people are complaining that (black) people chose Obama based solely on his race. Yes, he is half-black… but that means he’s also half NOT black. I didn’t base my decision on his skin color, I sure don’t think it’s a valid reason to pick the next leader of the free world, and I do agree that there is some truth to the complaint. I just think we need a healthy dose of perspective. We white folks have never had to wish we had the opportunity to vote for a candidate “like us”… all candidates have been white. We’ve always been allowed to be doctors, lawyers, dentists, CEOs, and elected officials. Always. There may be absolutely no genetic basis or proof that any one race is inferior or superior to another, and there shouldn’t be any difference between a white President’s agenda and a non-white President’s agenda… but there is. In our country’s history, racism has been so ingrained in every institution that the opportunity to have a black or semi-black President was the single-most important possibility to triumph over racism to date. So yes, I’d imagine plenty of people voted for Obama at least partially due to the pigment in his skin. If white people were more honest, maybe we’d realize that we would have felt the same way if we had never had the chance to have someone with skin that resembled ours in office. I wonder how many Catholics voted for JFK just because they finally had someone that understood their religious background. I don’t think religion or race should ever be or will ever be a sound reason to pick a candidate for any office or position, but I don’t expect that in a country riddled with religious oppression and racism that we can suddenly ask that they never be an issue. Did we not cause this to happen? Ideally, skin color should matter as much as a candidate’s eye color. Ideally, no one would see a white vs. black agenda. But ideally doesn’t exist… yet. I have more hope than I’ve ever had before, but we have quite a bit of work to do.
