My President Is... Black?

To say the least, much has been made of Barack Obama's race. Millions proclaim that he will be our first Black president if elected. There's just one problem: he's not Black. He's mixed.

In America, we tend to lump anyone with "one drop" of "colored" blood into that person's minority group. While on the one hand it lends credence to the minority group to which that person is rightly part of, we tend to ignore the fact that we are completely eliminating a huge part of a person's background. If you ask most people of mixed-race heritage directly, they will not tell you, "oh, I'm Black" or "I'm Puerto Rican", or "I'm Japanese". In reality, the majority of mixed-race people will say, "I'm Puerto Rican and Black", "I'm half White, half Black", etc. These people know and value the constituent parts of their backgrounds, so why don't we have the respect to do it as well?

I don't want to make it seem as if I am not proud and happy to have an African-American representative in the running for the Presidential nomination. However, I think we must keep in mind that there are two parts to his whole. To simply call Barack Obama "Black" is a token of disrespect to the mother who bore and raised him.

Note: I'm fully aware that there is no biological definition of or distinction between races, but for the purpose of this posting, I'm operating under the assumption that whoever reads this will understand my use of the term.

Ballin With Barack

I am voting for Barack Obama. My reasons, however, are not what you might think. I have a strong inclination that in the future, all international disagreements will be settled by one-on-one basketball games to 21 between countries' respective heads of state. Bearing that in mind, how could anyone even think to vote for McCain over Obama? In fact, I don't know how they've gone this long without battling it out on the blacktop. I know Sarah Palin played basketball in high school and she could give McCain some pointers on his J, but there's no way Johnny boy could match up with Barack "All Day and All Night" Obama.

On a similar note, does it feel any better to have your shot packed by the future president in a pickup game, or does the sting of rejection still burn like a stove top turned on Hi? Do you run around town exclaiming "Barack Obama put his presidential junk in my face and dunked on me!!", or do you hide in the nearest locker room, sobbing and hoping Kennedy's assassin is resurrected? If you foul Obama a bit too hard does Secret Service jump down from the backboard and summarily pull your spine out, or are you free to hack-a-Barack until Palin's cows come home?

If you vote for McCain and the U.S. becomes a terrorist state because ole John couldn't handle Ahmadinejad's drive and pull-up jumper, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Lebron James/Dwyane Wade for President and VP, 2032!!

The Trump Card They Can't Play

Barack Obama has one. Sarah Palin has one. The problem is, neither one of them can use it. I'm talking about their "cards". Obama has the Race Card hanging out in his back pocket. Sarah Palin has the Sexism Card in her purse. However, neither one can use it because everyone is expecting them to and because of the fallout from such a manoeuvre.

The second Obama calls ANYONE out for anything racist, the presidential race changes (explicitly) from McCain vs. Obama to what many people perceive the race to be now: McCain vs. The Black Race. If Sarah "I shot the moose but I did not shoot Mike Vick's dogs" Palin alludes to any type of sexism, it's a Biden vs Women's Hope race. So what to do?

They just don't pull their cards out. They keep them close on hand so their aides, supporters and advocates can pull them out for them, but they simply don't use them. If Obama goes to Mississippi/Alabama (they're the same state mirrored) again and he's called the N-word, he's going to have to take it and keep rolling down the river. If Palin is called a hot mom and asked when the next PTA meeting is, she'll have to hop in the minivan and drive off without a response.

So who can use those cards? The same people that have been using them from the beginning. Those misinformed, ignorant, lazy, intelligent, brilliant, active people who have been using those cards like Paris Hilton on a trip to France. Basically, any individual person who feels inclined to use the cards can use them. Just not Obama and Palin.