Well, even though there have been billions of words written around the world about the campaign that Barack Obama just won, I thought I’d put my two cents forward because, well, this is my blog and that’s what blogs are for. In a word – elated. That’s what I feel. I don’t believe I’m alone when I say that ‘catastrophic’ is too small a word to describe the train wreck that was George W. Bush, but now, finally, we can start to see the light. I’m not saying Obama will save the world, the country or even fix the economy or lower taxes; but he’s certainly the best chance we have to start heading in the right direction. But there’s one thing bothering me…
It’s undeniable that Obama’s victory is a giant leap gargantuan pole vault for the civil rights movement. It’s especially significant because, to quote George Carlin:
This country was founded by a group of white, unelected, land-holding slave owners who said that “all men are created equal”. Yeah, except for Indians, women and niggers.
Sometimes the truth is ugly. And sometimes it’s beautiful:
At any rate, although it’s an historically notable win, there’s something that I noticed, and I’m sure I’m not the only one: Obama’s not black; he’s biracial. His father was from Kenya, his mother was from Kansas. So, technically, all those newspapers saying that he’s the first black president are incorrect; he’s the first mixed-race president. But maybe I’m splitting hairs.
This got me thinking – you know what we need? Aliens. We need to discover extra-solar life. I imagine if we did, that, as humans, we’d probably nearly wipe ourselves out with mass hysteria and hyper-stylized religious fundamentalism, but after a while, things would calm down, and then we’d be back to normal. Except it wouldn’t be normal, and you know what? The term ‘race’ would lose a hell of a lot of its weight. Suddenly, the question wouldn’t be whether you’re black or white or yellow or brown – the question would be are you human.
I suppose that’d be great for a while, until we inevitably started to fear and segregate our new friends, but this is getting off into a whole new tangent. At any rate, congratulations to Obama, and not because he’s black: because he acts like a leader. Because he speaks with conviction. And because he says ‘nuclear’ instead of ‘nuculer’.
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