Let’s face it. Most people are scared to death to even acknowledge that Barack Obama is black, unless it’s in a condescending “Hey, look what a black man can do” kind of semi-celebratory manner.

Now, surprise-surprise, a lot of people are going all kinds of crazy over former Dem VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro’s comments:

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

This is absolutely, blatantly, and flagrantly…true. If you take a look at the charismatic, youthful (some), and energetic freshman senators that ran for the presidency recently (Even Bayh, Chuck Hagel, John Edwards…) they all fell by the wayside mostly due to the age and experience issues. Yet Obama escapes unscathed. Is it only because he’s black? Probably not. Is that a contributing factor? Absolutely.

This post is attached to a comic that I drew right after Super Tuesday when Hillary got slammed and Obama looked to be even further ahead than he is now. To be perfectly honest, I was afraid to post it because I didn’t want to be viewed as racist (ironically). I’m certainly not, and this thought occurs to me: if Obama can deflect criticism now simply by playing the race card, what happens when/if he becomes president?

The idea that someone can get special treatment because of their skin color certainly isn’t a new one. In fact, many people want it to be law. But to have that idea extend to the highest office in the country, and to the most powerful station on the planet is something that I’m not willing to idly watch happen. The color and gender of our president doesn’t matter in the slightest to me. What matters is that they’re right on the issues.

It isn’t about unequal treatment or racism or any other buzz word you want to throw at me. This whole thing has been made into an issue of special treatment. If we’re talking about equality — judging everyone by the same standard — then Obama shouldn’t have a snowball’s chance against Hillary and McCain. It’s time that we start talking about the issues where Obama fails, and there are plenty, without worrying about a Limbaugh/ESPN/McNabb debacle every time we do so.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 7:59 pm and is filed under Stranger than Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.