It rained yesterday – Australian drought my ass. It rained on A Free Man and Boy Party Day, which meant that we were house bound for the bulk of the day. Boy Z has risen to toddlerhood proper and I just want to say that I now have sympathy for all you stay-at-home-parents. The boy is an insubordinate destructicon (he gets it from his Mother). Here’s hoping that this mythological Australian summer kicks in soon or I may go back to working five days a week.

My sanity was preserved by  the arrival of two overseas packages yesterda. First, in the morning mail, was a box of Georgia schwag from Just Jessie containing more paraphenalia to make Boy Z the best dressed Little Dawg in the Southern Hemisphere. Even better, though, was DVDs of the first four games of the year – back when we still thought we were good. Watching the Bulldogs run all over Georgia Southern kept Boy Z quiet for a good two minutes.

With the afternoon post, my sanity was at a breaking point – the terrorist was on the verge of winning.  Then my hardworking postman rang the bell again, this time with a box full of Obama paraphernalia kindly shipped my way by Alice of 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera – her campaign leftovers. It was a veritable treasure trove of all things Obama, including some t-shirts, stickers, buttons, posters (one of which is my favorite campaign image) and even Democratic mints. There was a notable shortage of Obama gear in Oz, so Alice’s package was a great treat for a fervent supporter of the president-elect. Plus, the stickers and pins distracted Boy Z for a fair few minutes. Although, I suspect that I’ll be finding Obama-Biden stickers stuck about the place for a few days.

My most heartfelt thanks to both Jessie and Alice!

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In lieu of an accompanying track, I’d like to point you to the Aquarium Drunkard who has a whole album of a show played by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash in 1969. Two of my favorite artists of all time – magical. Check it out here.

“This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time — to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth — that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can.”

Here’s his Election night speech as an MP3 file. In case you want to hear it again…

I’ve been pretty hard on the American Dream lately, have made statements about it being a myth or a fantasy or available only beyond America’s shores. But as Barack Obama started his speech last night, as the first black president of the United States took the stage, I realized that I was wrong. The election results last night exorcised the demons of slavery and racial discrimination from the America soul. It gave me hope that my homeland is making a transition after eight years of disastrous foreign and domestic policy and is on its way to being a country to which I could imagine returning one day.

But…

But, I am extremely disheartened about some of the results last night. The Alaska senate race is laughable as it seems a convicted criminal has been elected to represent them in the United States Senate. Is there any way that we could convince Alaska to secede.  This stands in stark contrast to a senate election in Missouri in 2000 in which Missouri repudiated the wing nut John Ashcroft in favor of a dead man.

What I am most unhappy about, however, are four ballot measures. Three of them, in Arizona, California and (predictably) Florida, banned gay marriage in those states. The worst, however, was in Arkansas where the voters opted to ban adoption by gay couples. I had hoped that we were past this kind of hatred as a nation. I had hoped that the election of a black man to the highest office in the land meant that we were rejecting prejudice and discrimination. But it seems that it is still acceptable to discriminate against homosexuality. It is still acceptable to hate gays and refuse them the rights that are available that happened to be born with a certain combination of alleles.

Well, shame on us. When are we going to grow up? When are we going to stop saying, “Ewww, homos! I don’t like them.” What difference does it make to heterosexual marriage if we extend the same opportunity to homosexuals? When are we going to stay out of our neighbors relationships and bedrooms? When are we going to stop legislating hatred?

Call me a negative nelly, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. Every silver lining has a big old gray cloud surrounding it.

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* This got my attention, but my favorite part of Obama’s speech and the part that brought tears to my eyes, was this:

“I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation’s next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House.”

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John Mellencamps’s gritty version of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” was featured on a compilation called “Song of America” available from eMusic.

Michelle Obama took a lot of heat for this statement, but today I agree with her 100%:

“For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.”

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Joanna Smith’s sublime version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”** was featured on a compilation called “Song of America” available from eMusic. Check out more of Smith’s music at her MySpace page.

Noon – November 5 – Adelaide

Stowed safely away from high maintenance students. Let’s get down to business. Fox, always the stalwart of responsible journalism, has it Obama 81 – McCain 39. Clearly in the tank. NYT has Obama ahead in Florida 53 – 47. My former home of Columbia County voted 66 – 34 for McCain. I’m surprised Obama got the 34.

12:11 p.m.: MSNBC calls Georgia for Obama without the votes from Atlanta or Savannah. NBC is in the tank for McCain.

12:28 p.m.: The only live stream I can get at Uni is MSNBC, which means I have to listen to Olbermann and Matthews and Scarborough stroke themselves for the rest of the day. Working to sort this out. Early returns from Michigan and Missouri look bad. Virginia looks bad. Why do the “real Americans” count faster than commies?

12:33: Oooooh. Fox News Radio! Now this is good. Fox (in the tank for Obama) has Obama with 180 electoral votes. And they just reminded me that there was a riot in Grant Park during the 1968 Democrat convention. Watch out for rioting Obamaniacs, Chicago.

12:42: OK, commies, here’s the deal. Obama needs Florida, Virginia, North Carolina or Ohio. Here’s the numbers as CNN has them:

Florida: Obama 52 – 48

Ohio: Obama 57 – 42

Virginia: McCain 51 -48

NC: Obama 52 – 48

So, it’s pretty good. Remember, real Americans count faster.

12:49 p.m.: Fox News radio jocks are depressed. Suicide watch. They’ve just called Ohio for Obama and called it “over”. Inexplicably they want to play The Stones’ “Tumbling Dice”

Women think Im tasty, but theyre always tryin to waste me
And make me burn the candle right down,
But baby, baby, I dont need no jewels in my crown.

Why?

1:01 p.m: Fox News Radio is already planning for the coming Marxist regime. President Obama will tax them to death. Fair and balanced.

I’m happy to report that Florida’s Volusia County, where A Free Man cast his absentee ballot, went for Obama 56 -44. MSNBC has New Mexico going for Obama. 200 – 865 Obama. I’m betting that we have a new president within the hour. Florida looks poised to redeem itself.

1:10: Not so fast. 62 – 39 to ban gay marriage, Florida? Really? Are we still doing that? Grow up.

1:27: The New York Times is, ironically, the most conservative about calling these states. They have it at Obama 117, McCain 18. Just for kick, let’s see how the drunken college student vote is going. These are university counties in red states:

Clarke County, Georgia (Go Dawgs!): Obama 58 – 40
Alachua County, Florida (Gators Suck): Obama 62 – 37
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama (Roll Tide): McCain 55 -44
Lee County, Alabama (War Eagle): McCain 55 – 44
Knox County, Tennessee (Vols): McCain 60 – 39

So, I guess the Gators aren’t all bad. But the young ‘un vote in the South maybe not a factor.

1:51: Big news. Despite being down 42 – 56 at the latest count, John McCain is the president…

…of Utah.

2:14: More of the student/pothead vote that may, in fact, matter:

Boone County, Missouri (Mizzou!): 62 – 37 Obama
Forsyth County, NC (Demon Deacons): 55 – 45 Obama
Albemarle County, Virginia (Cavs): 59 -39 Obama

2:28 p.m.: Fox has called Virginia for Obama (so in the tank). That may be premature, but I think the cable news folks are being a bit coy about Florida. I’m calling Florida for Obama. Let’s get Cali in and this is done.

2:31 p.m.: That’s it. MSNBC calls it. CNN calls it. Fox explodes. I’ve got to say, I’m a little teary eyed from the Southern Hemisphere. God bless America.

I actually really enjoy teaching. I’ve been teaching undergraduates intermittently for a decade now, and I always enjoy it. I am a bit odd in that I have no anxiety when it comes to public speaking. Before a lecture, which is more or less a performance, my heart races a bit, but this is a pleasant kind of agitation – similar to the effects of some of the controlled substances that I’ve indulged in at various times in my life. And that analogy carries over into the actual presentation. If it goes well, I get a buzz from it and feed off of the energy to keep going. Where I struggle is in one-on-one conversations or small group situations. These are where my social anxiety rears up and often strikes me dumb or renders my mouth capable of spewing only Lewis Carroll-esque jibberish.

At any rate, we were talking about teaching. This course was the first one that I have been solely in charge of from start to finish, which presented more challenges than what I’m used to in teaching. In the past I’ve just turned up, given a lecture and then passed any problems up the chain of command. Being at the top of the chain makes things a bit less enjoyable. Nonetheless, it’s all done but the counting. So, if you’ll allow me a little self-examination, I thought I would grade my own performance. Here is my report card for the term:

1. Contract extension – check. And a fat one. A+
2. Student success. Final marks are not in yet, so I can’t really evaluate how the kids have done. About 10% of them are at risk of failing which, to a certain extent, represents some degree of failure by me. But most of them have exceeded my expectations thus far. The exam is designed to separate the wheat from the chaff, so we’ll see. For now, an Incomplete.
3. Student evaluations of teaching. I think this is the best measure or my performance. Behind the veil of anonymity, my charges get to turn the table and grade me as a lecturer. Not all the responses are in, but so far they’ve given me a solid B. I score well on the boring things like making course objectives clear, helping them develop understanding of concepts and showing a genuine interest in their success. And, surprisingly, using up to date lecturing and teaching methods. Really? Standing up and talking at them for three hours a week while struggling to figure out how to work the projector is high tech? My worst score? “The staff member made the subject matter interesting.” Bastards. You try and make Genetics interesting.

So, overall I guess I would give myself a solid B (Distinction for Aussie readers and I never did figure out the byzantine British marking system). A job done.
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Speaking of jobs, I’ve got one for any Wordpress geeks out there. I’ve begun to feel that A Free Man needs a makeover. I’m a bit tired of using standard templates and would like to fanny the place up a bit. Now, thanks to BlogHer, that the site is self-supporting I’m hoping that someone out there might could give me a hand with this. If you’re a design person, or know a design person, shoot me an e-mail chris (at) afreeman (dot) org and maybe we can work something out. People who would be willing to be paid in kangaroo scrotum coin purses and clip on koala bears are particularly welcome.

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Finally, I’m sure you’re either going to vote or not and you’ve already decided for whom to vote. You’ll get no campaign spiel from me. But, Wilco and Fleet Foxes are giving away their live cover of Bob Dylan’s I Shall Be Released in support of getting out the vote today. Download the cover here and don’t forget to vote. And vote for Obama. If you don’t like Obama, do me a favor and stay home. (OK, I lied about the spiel. I’m also violating my no advertising for the major labels rule as well. What are you gonna do about it?).

Looking for your unbiased and honest opinion if you saw any of the VP debate. Since I don’t have a dog in the fight and can’t vote anyway*, I can be objective. I am objective to the point that I dislike both McCain and Obama, so I’m happy I can’t vote – I’d have to go with none of the above on the ballot.

The media has been ripping Palin so much, I thought I would take the time to see her in action. I don’t quite understand why the media beats her up for inexperience but gives Obama a pass, but I guess that is their agenda.

So anyway, I watched the first part of the debate, and she won me over quickly. Down to earth, folksy and positive responses to the questions. Biden, on the other hand, like all lifetime “experienced” politicians, sidesteps the question and goes into ripping the competition. This is what I am used to – Democrat or Republican, doesn’t matter. Palin did not go too far down that road. I would like to think that she could set a trend for the future, but that is probably too much to hope for. And probably if she hangs around, she’ll end up like them.But it was a nice few minutes.
So anyway, I thought, well maybe it was just me. So at tennis today I dared to bring up politics – not usually a good mix,. Most of my comrades are Obama guys so I expected to hear pretty negative things. But amazingly, they to a man, were very much impressed by her and how she handled herself.

So, if you got a chance to see it, what did you think?

Well Dad, since you read my blog I suspect that you already know that my opinion of Sarah Palin is not a very good one. I did watch the debate, which was shown nearly live on Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV, the PBS equivalent. First of all, I think Joe Biden was fantastic in the last hour and that is unfortunately getting lost in the chattering about Palin. He was smart, quick witted and importantly acted as the terrier that I had hoped he would. He went after Palin a couple of times on absolute falsehoods spouted by her and the McCain campaign. In his finest moment, he challenged the whole Maverick® label that Palin and McCain have draped themselves in. After the sixth time she said “maverick” Biden, clearly peeved, went on a sharp riff, challenging the Republican candidates’ maverickness.

As for Palin, she definitely exceeded expectations and in her defense, presented herself much better than she had of late in interviews.  I’ll admit that I, like a lot of other people, watched in part to see the Palin Express completely come off the rails. But she formed complete sentences, had some coherent thoughts and above all, and as you pointed out, Dad, was thoroughly charming. She didn’t convince me that she knows what she’s talking about, particularly, because she flat-out refused to address the questions posed and stuck to her talking points.

But this is my problem with Sarah Palin: she’s all charm. As you say yourself, she’s down to earth and folksy. A lot of people perceive a connection with her.  She’s someone a lot of people would probably like to have a beer with. That’s great, but I don’t want to have a beer with my president, or vice-president. I don’t want my president to be someone I can relate to. I don’t want my president to be just like me. I want my president to be much smarter than me, I want my president to be much more competent than me, I want my president to be much better than me. I don’t think I could run the United States and I don’t think Sarah Palin could run the United States. We’ve had eight years of being led by a “regular guy”, a “folksy” speaker, a guy that people wanted to have a beer with. Dad, are we better off than we were eight years ago? I don’t think I could run the United States and I don’t think Sarah Palin could run the United States.

That’s my objective opinion. What do you guys think? Let’s hear your (civilized) opinions about Sarah Palin post-debate.

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* My Dad retains his Canadian citizenship despite living in the U.S. for over thirty years. Smart guy.

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The John Butler Trio’s “Sunrise Over Sea” is available from .

Strange Scottish Girl, who has a snazzy new site by the way, asked me the other day for a political post. I’ve not written one in a while, largely because the whole Sarah Palin nomination/ Republican circus has just depressed me. I’m depressed at the cynicism of the McCain campaign thinking that disaffected Clinton voters will flock to Palin just because of the number of X chromosomes that she bears. I’m depressed that the Republicans are falling back on extreme social conservativism to engorge their base. Again. I’m depressed that the oldest presidential candidate in history has selected a viciously pro-life, creationist, anti-science, book banning neo-fascist to be a malignant melanoma away from the reins of my homeland.

Mostly I’m depressed that it seems to be working. The most recent Real Clear Politics aggregate polls have McCain up three points on Obama, the first time he’s led since he became the presumptive Republican nominee back in the Spring. This isn’t because of McCain’s slightly histrionic and more than slightly disingenuous speech last week, it’s because of Palin.

I don’t even want to post about Palin, I just can’t drum up the words. She represents everything that I think is wrong with the Republican Party and American politics as it stands today. I was really pretty optimistic about things because it looked like things were changing – even the G.O.P. had weeded out the wing nuts and nominated a socially moderate candidate, but then Palin.

But this isn’t about Sarah Palin, it’s about book banning. Sarah Palin likes the idea of banning books by most accounts. Sarah Palin asked the librarian in the town she ran how she would feel if Palin asked her to remove some books from the local library. The librarian said she would never do anything of the sort. The librarian was “asked to resign” a few days later. The McCain campaign has tried to quiet this story by saying that Palin’s request was speculative and that the librarian wasn’t fired because she said no to Palin, but for other reasons. Whatever.

I know book banners and I know what they look like and sound like. I grew up in a small town on the steaming pine flats of north Florida. This particular town was famous for two things. One, Ted Bundy killed his last victim there. Two, they banned Chaucer from the schools. When I was a Freshman in High School, my county school board banned a humanities text book that contained excerpts from Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata” and Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”. That’s right, 5^th century B.C. Greek drama and 13^th century English frame tales were too dirty for our developing minds. A local preacher’s wife was helping her daughter with her homework one day and came across the mere mention of the existence of sex in Lysistrata and the “The Miller’s Tale” – a farcical story in verse that includes medieval fart jokes – and went all histrionic. She got her husband on to the case, who used his own little bully pulpit to get a rise out of his Southern Baptist congregation. As these things do in small towns, in a matter of weeks there was fury from the community about their precious innocents being forced to read such smut. Smut that 99% of them hadn’t bothered to read. Smut that the vast majority of them couldn’t pronounce, never mind spell.

The irony, of course, is that in the late 80’s most of these delicate flowers were having more sex than Aristophanes could ever conceive of and the jokes I heard in the halls of my school would have caused Chaucer to blush. But logic and reality tend to be irrelevant when a community is stricken with a righteous fury and the school board, with a cowardly unanimous vote, caved under the pressure and banned both the humanities book and the original text.

At the time, I didn’t know Greek comedy from situation comedy and  I didn’t know that Chaucer was the father of English literature and laid the path for seven centuries of words to come. I was 15 and had bigger issues to deal with and I just didn’t really care about the ban.  I was young and still labored under the illusion that elected officials knew best and had my best interests at heart. I’ve always been a little bit ashamed that I wasn’t angry at the time, that I didn’t get angry until I went away to college and read “Lysistrata” and “The Canterbury Tales”. It was at that point that I realized what had been done to me by the preachers and the school board.

I have no problem with anyone’s religious beliefs, none whatsoever. Largely because what  anyone else believes is absolutely none of my business. If you don’t want to watch a movie or read a book or listen to a song because it flies in the face of your religious beliefs, that’s fine. If you don’t want your child to read a book or listen to a song because it flies in the face of your religious beliefs, that’s fine, though you probably ultimately do your child a disservice. Nonetheless, none of my business. But the Christianists that banned Chaucer and Aristophanes went a step too far, they didn’t want anyone to read, watch or listen to something that offended their faith. This is where I have a problem. This is where your religion offends me. This is where your beliefs tread on not only my beliefs, but my freedom to practice them. This is where it becomes my business.

I learned that in my first year of a private Christian college in South Carolina. I learned that I should be angry about what had been done in my hometown. I learned about book banning. It didn’t just happen in that small town in north Florida. It had happened throughout history when zealots with a modicum of power and more than their fair share of influence convinced an ill informed population that a book threatened their morality. And I got angry. And I wrote an essay for a literature class about book banning and book banners. My professor encouraged me to send that essay to my local newspaper and they published it as a guest editorial.

My small salvo in the war against book banning got me my first job as a writer. The surprisingly progressive publisher of our local paper gave me a summer job as an intern reporter. I spent two summers reporting on the local politicians . It was during those two summers that I became a liberal, that I began to question authority, that I learned the dirty truth about small town politics. During those two summers I got to know Sarah Palin. I got to know small minded people that are so convinced that their personal morality is right that they are willing to force it on everyone else by any means necessary. I learned that if people wouldn’t listen and change, the Sarah Palins of the world will litigate their world view. There are lots of Sarah Palins on school boards and county commissions and, yes, in mayors offices in small towns around the country, particularly in the South. I know her, I’ve worked for her and I’ve worked against her and I have had enough of her.

Now most of the time, these people don’t get far in politics. But every now and again one of them is clever enough, glib enough or charismatic enough to climn the political ladder. Sometimes they get elected to the State legislature, sometimes they might be elected to the House of Representatives. Occasionally one of them becomes governor or even a Senator. Increasingly, these small-minded proto fascists are making a dent on the national stage. Recently they’ve made their way on to the U.S. Supreme Court and into the White House itself.

I had high hopes that this year was going to be different. But then came Sarah Palin, with her snide, sarcastic speech and her fundamentalist agenda and I realized that it was just the same old shit from the G.O.P. So, I don’t want to hear from Sarah Palin. I don’t want to be polite about this election anymore. I don’t want to try and balance the two parties and try to be fair. I’m angry and I’m tired of these people and I want them to go away. I want their mandate taken away.   I want them beaten and beaten soundly. Am I a member of the “Angry Left”? You’re damn right I am.

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Image credits:

Chains

Freadom

Columbia County Courthouse

Eye chart

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Belle and Sebastian’s “Dear Catastrophe Waitress” is available from eMusic.

Here are some of my highlights:

“It’s a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.”

“Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don’t have that chance.”

“Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility – that’s the essence of America’s promise.”

“We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans – have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.”

“But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me. It’s been about you.”

“That promise is our greatest inheritance. It’s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours – a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.”

Because something is not going according to plan in the Obama campaign.  In the most recent generic polls, in which respondents are asked whether they would vote for a Republican or Democrat for President, the Democrat leads by 10. In the most recent daily tracking polls, Obama leads McCain by no more than three points. This is a discrepancy that’s been troubling me since Obama secured the nomination. The Democratic nominee has led McCain by as much as 7 points, but tends to hover around 45%. McCain is creeping up and in some recent daily tracking polls has surpassed Obama.

I know that polls in the summertime are about as reliable as British weather forecasting, but something doesn’t add up. Admittedly, up until the end of last week, McCain had been bashing Obama around quite a lot without much response. Obama spent a week on vacation, completely yielding the stage to McCain. Maybe that’s why McCain is catching up a bit, but what I find more disturbing is that if the election were held today, a generic Democrat wins by ten and the specific Democrat ties at best. I’m not the only one to wonder that, the pundits have been mashing numbers and waving hands and have come up with all sorts of ‘gaps’:

• The gender gap – stubborn Clintonistas that haven’t come into the party fold. In other words, they would vote for a generic Democrat if that Democrat was specifically Hillary Clinton.**
• The experience gap – McCain’s decades of public service, makes him stronger than the generic Republican. Similarly, Obama’s less than a decade in national office makes him weaker.
• The foreign policy gap – with uncertainty in the Caucuses and Middle East, voters are flocking to military man McCain. Because, you know, foreign policy equals war.
• The attack gap – McCain’s campaign is charging forward, arrows flying like a mob of Hun horsemen. They’ve tried every possible avenue of attack and have found a few that hurt.

All of these probably have something to do with the differences in these polls. But, increasingly, I’m beginning to fear that the real gap is a darker and unsurmountable one. I’m beginning to think that the gap that is hurting Obama is the skin color gap.  Consistently, in polls, a huge majority of Americans (76% in the most recent) say that the country is ready for a black president (or a woman for that matter). That’s both predictable and suspicious. For one thing, the phrasing of the question is tricky. Pollsters are not asking the respondents if they are ready for a black president. Only the most blatant of racists would admit, to a stranger, over the phone that they were unwilling to put a black man in the White House. But, occasionally in this election cycle, hard numbers have belied these whitewashed polls. The discrepancy between the polls in the New Hampshire primary and the results, for example, has been attributed to the so called “Bradley Effect” by a number of pundits. More disturbing and less contentious, however, are the results in West Virginia exit polls, in which 22% of respondents said race was important in their decision between Clinton and Obama. Of those 22%, 82% voted for Clinton. If 22% admitted to being driven by race, how many felt the same way but didn’t admit it?

And the answer to that question is what I’m worried about. Has Obama reached a glass ceiling of his own? When I first heard Obama, at the 2004 Democratic conveniention, I was blown away by his oratory. At that time, I thought that Obama was a rising star in the party but that his race, and more particularly, his name would keep him out of the oval office. I’ve been surprised and thrilled to see him get to the spot he is today – just days away from accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination. It’s been an amazing year in American politics and one that makes me proud of my country. But what if I was right in 2004, what if Obama can’t get past that 45% number. What if there is a enough of a minority of Americans to turn an election who are still so riddled with bigotry that they can’t fathom the idea of a black man in the White House.

I realize that there are scores of reasons that a person wouldn’t vote for Obama that have nothing to do with race. If you’re a Republican and have reasoned policy differences with the Illinois senator, then I have no problem with you. If Obama is a bit too conservative for your taste, I respect that and Nader is running again this year. If you really believe that Obama doesn’t have ample experience for the job, despite the fact that many that have come before him had even less, then fair enough.

If you’re not voting for Obama because his middle name is Hussein, or because he lived in Indonesia then I have a big problem with you. If you won’t vote for Obama because “you can’t relate with him culturally” or because of the church that he went to, then I have a big problem with you. When it becomes, at any level, about the color of Barack Obama’s skin, then you are not making an intelligent, well informed decision. You’re making a decision based on hatred. If you’re one of those 22% of West Virginians, you made a bigoted decision. More importantly, if you, even deep down, agree with them, you are a racist.

Similarly, I don’t think that voting for Obama solely because of his race is legitimate. Again the problem, the fear, the anxiety that is with me is the difference between the number of people who would like to see a Democrat in the White House and the number of people that would like to see this Democrat in the White House.

America is at such a thrilling place historically. We’re primed to finally resolve over two hundred years of slavery, segregation, lynchings, Jim Crow, and racial hatred. We’re at the doorstep of a colorblind society. And I hope that I’m wrong about this. I hope that the fickle summertime polls bear no relation to reality and that the number of people that refuse to vote for Obama because of his skin color are restricted to a few stubborn Klaverns and 22% of West Virginia. Because the election of Barack Obama could be a turning point in American history – like the rise of JFK in 1960 and the Reagan revolution in 1980, but moreso.

The last two presidential elections have not gone the way I had hoped. In 2000, I was confused after the presidential election results finally came in. In 2004 I was angry. 2008 can still go either way. If Obama becomes that generic Democrat, I’ll be able to walk around my adopted foreign home with pride in my country again – a pride that’s been hard to drum up in the last eight years. If Obama has indeed hit that glass ceiling, if he does come in around 45% and loses to McCain, I’ll just feel very, very sad and a little bit ashamed.

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*Started writing this on Sunday morning, but free time is at a premium these days. Daily tracking polls remain about the same as then.

** For those of you saying to yourself, “See, I told you Obama couldn’t get elected”, I firmly believe that Clinton would be having the same problem with a subset of voters that couldn’t handle a woman in the Oval Office.

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“The Best of U2 1980 – 1990″ is available from .