Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Central Question...


obamainreno
Originally uploaded by Randuwa
...of this election is really rather simple. Will white Americans vote for a black man to be president?

There are dissertations a-plenty awaiting the answer to this question, but for now I give you this photograph from Obama's visit today in Reno, Nevada. Over 10,000 mostly white people would seem to suggest that the answer is YES.

It may still be NO in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Nebraska (as the polls overwhelmingly imply); however, if it is YES in Nevada, then it's finally YES in Iowa, and YES in Virginia, and (dare I hope for it?) even YES in North Carolina. And for now, that's good enough for me.

Is it so bad to want to live in a nation driven by ideals that create opportunities for everyone? Instead of a nation filled with empty rhetoric where the haves spend their energy protecting their own and audaciously blaming the have-nots for all their calamities? Are we not a better people than this?

If our nation doesn't embrace and stand for this, then how can we expect anything other than to continue to implode upon ourselves? Lincoln paraphrased it from the Bible, and it remains just a true today: A house divided will not long stand....

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