Proof That We Are Not a Color-Blind Society Yet

Proof That We Are Not a Color-Blind Society Yet

Imagine if the Republican nominee for President:

1. Attended a church for twenty years whose pastor preached that the U.S. government was involved a massive conspiracy to kill its own citizens because it hated them so much (think of someone like Rev. Fred Phelps);

2. Was good friends with, and had sizable personal and political financial entanglements with a convicted felon and claimed to be surprised by the conviction;

3. Went to someone for political support who had set off bombs back in the 1960s and was unrepentant about it (think of some of the Klansmen that blew up churches back then);

4. Suddenly announced that he was going to skip public financing of his campaign because he had so much money compared to his opponent;

5. Had served not even one term in the U.S. Senate--and now proposed to be President.

Would anyone take this guy seriously? As either a Republican or a Democrat? If Obama wasn't black, would anyone regard this guy as a serious candidate?

There was a time when a black man who gave a good speech would often be called "articulate"--and there were blacks who winced at this, because the implication was a black man who would speak clearly and convincingly was somehow an exception. To use the expression of the time, such a man was "a credit to his race." Yet the only aspects that makes Barack Obama stand out right now are that he is half-black, and he gives very polished speeches that say very little. Think of Senator John Edwards--who didn't have the baggage of corruption and radical alliances, and comparable experience. And you will notice how little headway Edwards made with similar ambitions, and GQ looks.

I wish that I could say that Senator McCain was an impressive alternative. He really isn't. McCain acknowledges that he knows nothing about economics; some of his gasoline proposals of late suggest that “knows nothing” may be too charitable a description of his understanding of this subject. Still, McCain's experience in Congress, and in intelligence and foreign policy matters, makes him look like a superstar compared to Obama.