The race is over and now race is the issue.

[Sandy]

<rant-personal-opinion>

Throughout the campaign everyone was so circumspect about not mentioning then Senator Obama's race.  We all knew it, but rarely was it ever mentioned.

It was so obvious that he was the best man for the job.  He just happened to be black.

To me, I thought that perhaps the world was moving past looking at the surface of a person and seeing a person for who they really were.  And I think that for the most part, that is exactly what the voters did.

But now that Mr. Obama is our President-Elect, most of the reporting seems to be so centered around his race.  And not so much is being reported about his emerging policies and choices for his cabinet.

Please, please, please, don't get me wrong.  It IS a magnificent achievement, and seeing the Reverend Jesse Jackson in tears at the rally moved me to tears.  This is an achievement for our country that fulfills the promise that anyone can do anything.  And for the first time in eight years, at least, I am proud to be an American and I am proud of America.

But it now seems that the order of his qualifications is being reversed by the media:  America's first African-American President, is, by popular and electoral acclaim, the best man for the job.

Instead of: America's best man for the job by popular and electoral acclaim, happens to be African-American.

I voted for him, I volunteered for him, because I believed in his "Audacity of Hope", his honesty, his "Yes We Can" spirit which moved mountains.  And somewhere in there I figured out he was black and I thought that was such a minor detail.

We, as a country, have to move forward, and I believe that we will now.

Ah well, maybe as we move on, President Obama will be remembered as a superlative president who just happened to be America's first Black President.

I can only hope.

<\rant-personal-opinion>

-Sandy

[NicholeW.]

I understand your desire, Sandy. But, tbh, they have to seel papaers and newscast advertising. And the "first black" angle is a way to do so.

It's too early to tell if he will not eventually be seen as exactly what you hope, an excellent president who happend to be the first African-American President. I like the hope, but for now I don't think you're gonna see that. So far he's not served even one day.

Nichole

[tekla]

It's interesting, because Obama is African-American, he's also not 'black.'  Michelle, she's black - raised if not po' at least very lower middle class, in a large (if not the largest) urban ghetto in the US (and if you've even driven though the South Side of Chicago, you know what I mean).  Obama was (and I think this is great, and is going to have profound effects) raised part of the time outside the US, and in Hawaii, and in Nebraska.  That's not the 'black' deal. 

He's a very different kind of cat, for sure.

[daisybelle]

I kind of see your point...

Kennedy was taunted I believe as the first Catholic President,
Not a you suggested The best man for the job of the presidency happened to be Catholic.

but other that that I do not think we have labeled other in the same way... Oh  so and so is the first Irish/German President... etc.

Daisy