Becoming Human

Should race or color be a factor, especially the deciding factor, in voting for a president?  Just now I heard Al Sharpton say it should not be the reason for voting for someone, or perhaps he said it should not be the only reason.  In the last election, Obama went to Maryland and told blacks race should not be a factor (the Republican candidate, Michael Steele, was black.)  Then he went to Tennessee and told blacks race should be a factor (the Democrat candidate, Harold Ford, was black).

There are reports all the time of polls showing some blacks are going to vote for Obama because he is black.  I don’t know, but that sounds racist to me.  Obama said his candidacy will cause an increase in black registration and turnout.  Isn’t that racist?  They won’t bother to vote at all if they have to vote for a white guy?  White people haven’t had to deal with that situation yet, but I am sure there would be some whites who would not bother to vote if their only choices were black.

Some whites are also going to vote for Obama because he is black.  Why would they do that?  I suspect it’s because of what Shelby Steele calls “white guilt.”  For an example of someone with extreme “white guilt” see father (he doesn’t deserve a capital F) Phleger.

But Obama isn’t black.  As we all know, when we think about it, he’s just as much white as he is black.  This means if he wins there will have to be an asterisk by his name in the record books.  How do you think the first real black president will feel?  Won’t he or she feel cheated at not being called the first black president?  It also means that if it’s legitimate to vote for him because he is black, shouldn’t we also vote for him because he is white?  So everyone should vote for him – blacks because he’s black and whites because he’s white.  But wait. It could just as well be the other way around. No one should vote for him.  Blacks (and whites with “white guilt”) should not vote for him because he is white and whites should not vote for him because he is black. 

Isn’t this whole idea of voting for someone because of his color ridiculous?  Maybe we should all just forget about color and vote for McCain because there is no question of his patriotism and he is not a socialist like Obama (or at least not as much of a socialist).  Now that makes sense.