It's the Melanin, Stupid

The republicans are so happy that no one is talking about issues. No one is pointing out that under the last eight years of republican rule we are worse off in almost every critical category: national security, economy, unemployment, world standing, poverty, failing businesses, the war on terror. You name it, Bush and the republicans have f*cked it up.

But like I said - no one is taking issues seriously. Why? Because this race boils down to one thing, and one thing only: race. I offer this example: Imagine if Michelle Obama appeared on stage at the Democratic National Convention with a 17-year-old un-married, pregnant teenager daughter. Republicans would not embrace her as an example of a "typical American story." They would accuse the Obama's of not respecting christian, family values. There would be accusations of irresponsibility. There would be innuendo about racial stereotypes. You don't think race matters? Then you don't remember how effectively McCain was smeared by his now employees during the 2000 election.

It's all about the melanin and the politics of racial hypocricy. And that is going to be the primary factor that determines this election.

Not convinced...here are a few more examples:

1)
If you are black and spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13, and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new African American voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, republicans call you inexperienced

If you are white and spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, republicans claim you have the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket.

2)
If you are a black democratic candidate who is popular with millions of people you are a shallow celebrity or a "rock star."

If you are a similarly popular white republican candidate you are seen as the savior of the party.

3)
If you are a black christian man, with a non-occidental name...you are called a Muslim.

If you are white, and you lie consistently; if you break your marriage vows by cheating on your wife, as did John McCain, you are nonetheless still called a christian.

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Sure - there are a lot of people out there who wouldn't vote for jesus christ if he ran as a Democrat - because their faith is utterly politicized. But given the abject failures of the last eight years under republican rule, given that McCain surrounds himself with lobbyists, given that he admits to knowing nothing about the economy at a time of economic crisis, given that his running mate is less qualified to be vice president than Marion Berry...there is only one thing that can prevent a democratic victory this year. Too many fence-sitting, latently racist Americans are afraid that once they vote black, there will be no turning back.

The Democrats are right to chant the mantras of "it's the economy, stupid" or "it's the corruption, the war, the lies, the cronyism, the political vindictiveness, the unemployment, the bailouts, the housing crisis...stupid!" But at the end of the day, it's all about the melanin. And issues have to ride in the back of the bus during this election.