Don’t Vote for Barack Obama because he’s Black!

In 2004 during the Democratic National Convention I was getting ready to go somewhere. I was in the bathroom prettying up while the television blared in the bedroom so I could hear it. As I primped my eyelashes I heard a speaker come on. Bla, bla, bla, and then I started hearing some things that got my attention. Someone was talking about being united as Americans. He spoke to us as a collective whole, not by the insincere and overused phrase “the Amerrrican [sic] people”. This speaker didn’t sound clever or crafty, he didn’t have any stupid catchy sayings. He communicated in a way that was clear and comprehensible to a broad range of social backgrounds by not dumbing down his message and also not employing the use of jargon and senseless word pairings. I was impressed, clearly as many many others were, as was indicated by the enthusiastic cheers he got after every paragraph of his eloquent speech.

I still had no idea who this guy was and I felt compelled to put down the face paint and go find out who this was because whoever was speaking to me that night needed to run for president as soon as possible. Out of the bathroom I walked to find out that it was Barack Obama, running for the Senate in Illinois, and incredibly handsome black man. I was not surprised, I was refreshed, elated, and proud. I just looked at it again on U-Tube and it brought tears to my eyes all over again.

I have not been particularly proud to be American for the past several years. Now I am not a gullible person at all but hearing that speech I felt the hope, the possibilities, and that somehow things were not nearly as bad as I had thought. Oh, the potential for the United States of America. (I think that sounds so corny but it’s actually true).

I have agreed with all Obama’s ideas with the exception of only one or two from the beginning. The picture of America that he paints is the one I would truly love to see. This is why I will vote for Obama. The fact that he is black is just icing on the cake. I never expected to see this history being written in my lifetime and I am thrilled to be here now.

Let me tell you how we can get into trouble for voting for a phenotype without regard to the ideas and issues at hand. Here in Washington DC we had one the worst mayors (I didn’t say the worst, I said ONE OF the worst, so please no flames)–Anthony Williams. He was basically a George Bush in a black man’s body. But because too many of my fellow Washingtonians were to afraid to vote for a white female Republican, Carol Schwartz, a progressive candidate who was all down for the PEOPLE. She wanted to fix the broken infrastructure and bureaucracy in this town for EVERYONE, not just the wealthy developers or the wealthy white neighborhoods. So we got into a mess.

So, vote for Obama! But not because he is a black man and you want to see a black man in the White House. Honestly, I think I would rather have seen a WOMAN in the White House. But I think Obama is the best candidate now. Vote for him because he inspires you, because you think he can help us make our country the best it can be. Or whatever the reason, just make sure your vote is an informed and intelligent one.