“Is Barack Obama a black man with a white mom, or a white man with a black dad?”

           I’m haven’t even started and I’m going off on a tangent but I never thought I would find one of the more poignant commentaries on how American’s view  race  in one line from the  Sunday comics.

The days of segregation and legal discrimination by race are over – but race is still a way of definition in the media. Not too long ago during the primary season one of the  filler issues  between primaries was “Is Barack  Black Enough?”

Then when it came time for theWest Virginiaprimary the question was can Barack appeal to  blue-collar  /working-class whites?  The media supported this accusation by claiming Barack Obama came off as an "elitist".

Which could be media-code for the antithesis of the previous question – not necessarily if Barack Obama can win the vote from an active cross burner, but can Barack win over that white voter who locks his car doors every time he sees a black person across the street?

The reason the “elitist” tag should be taken with skepticism is because there is no reason why Barack Obama should be singled out for labeled as such.

John McCain owns  eight houses. His wife owns a gillion dollars.

           George W. Bush appealed to the blue-collar vote yet he owned part of the Texas Rangers. George W. Bush’s dad was president before he was. 

           Hillary Clinton was on the executive board for Wal-Mart, one of the world’s largest corporations.

           Almost all of the Presidential hopefuls have Ivy League educations.

           So why was Barack the only one tagged with “elitist”? Probably because the real issue had nothing to do with elitism at all … although it could have something to do with his bowling skills - only an elitist would bowl that poorly.

    The point of this whole diatribe is nothing but obvious. We are at a historic moment in American history. Children growing up today will see a black man and a white woman as the norm for who can be president – these ideas will be the new archetypes of politics – not just the old white man gargoyles that we’ve always seen perched up on the party wagons. I do hope that Clinton’s monumental achievements won’t be cast aside now that Obama is the nominee. Not only has this election year been inspirational but it has forever shifted the paradigm.

           But for as much progress as they actions have achieved it is unfortunate to know that for some race will factor in to how someone votes. Inspirational and historic yes, and I don’t know if it’s the cynic or the realist surmising but the Obama/Clinton possibility is not a panacea to the inequalities that still prevail.

           But it is progress.