Men, Women, Race, Sex, Politics and Stupidity

I figure with a title like that, I should get a few extra Google hits this month. :-)

This has been an historic campaign year and I have failed to comment on that before now. Why? Because, frankly, the race or sex of a political candidate (whether for President or local Mosquito Control) does not make a bit of difference to me. I can not imagine supporting Hillary Clinton because she is a female, just as I can not imagine NOT supporting her because she is a female. I supported her because I honestly felt that she was the best candidate for the job (after the loss of John Edwards). Now that she has dropped out of the race (or was effectively beaten) I will support Barack Obama through November and throughout his first term as President, but it has nothing to do with the color of his skin.

So it was with dismay this morning that I read this article at MSNBC on the fact that his race may be a challenge for our future President. And it is with dismay that I realized that, had Ms. Clinton won the nomination, the article would have still been written with the word "woman" replacing the word "black." The year is 2008 and we are the most powerful country on the planet (well, except for China) and, yet, hatred and bigotry flows throughout as if it were, somehow, normal. Voters in West Virginia and Pennsylvania told NPR reporters that they supported Ms. Clinton because they could not vote for a black man. Yet, they did it on the condition of anonymity, because they KNEW they were wrong.

Yes, this country needs change. A new day, a new administration, a new direction. Hopefully some uninformed racists will not stop that from happening.