Praise Obama! Teach 'em young.

[Joe Wicked]

Buzz,
Point taken. My posts were from what I have seen from my view. I am a white man married to a black woman whose family was really excited that a black man made it to the top. Several began their own looks into his past in an honest effort to understand how he made the achievements he made and try to find a way to teach that to their children so they could succeed better in life than they did. A good portion of her family lives in the ghetto in Kansas City. They quickly found that he did not grow up in the ghetto and suddenly felt that they could learn nothing and gave up. I have seen a multitude of people do this in her family and their friends. I know that is a limited view, but that is where my post came from. I was not meaning to infer that he should apologize for the way he looks. No one should ever have to apologize for their herritige or looks. I was simply stating what I have seen transpired. Sorry for any confusion on my intent.

[Buzz]

Joe, I was in no way referencing your post . I was taking issue with those who imply that Obama is "choosing to be black" to gain some sort of advantage from that label. In any other circumstance that does not pander to some political agenda, they - or anyone else for that matter - would refer to him as a black man. Can you imagine the reaction if a man who looks like Obama tried to pass himself off as white or even referred to himself as "mixed"? The first thing they would holler is that he is ashamed of what he is.
That's the sad thing about political dogmatism - people seek to put the most negative spin possible on a political opponent's actions regardless of how much it contradicts the way they would react if that same action came from a member of their own party. Truth be damned! Negativity at all cost!

The significance of Obama being the first black president is not so much that it will show poor little ghetto kids that they can become POTUS. It is more an example to show the critics of America and the retrogressive thinkers in American society and elsewhere - both black and white - that the majority of people in the US are NOT racists and that it really could be true that anyone; regardless of race, can achieve their goals if they are committed, determined and prepared to work hard enough to get what they want. Going back as far as Colin Powell and up to the time when Obama declared his candidacy for the job, many, many people of all colours and cultures around the world - the US included - thought that though he may be a strong candidate, American society was still not ready to accept a black man as their president.