I am SO SICK of the "America's not ready to elect a Black man" meme [View All]

[beaconess]

Who SAYS America's not ready?

And how will we know until a Black man actually runs?

Hell, America hasn't elected a liberal Democrat president since Kennedy - and he wasn't really all that liberal by today's standards. Based upon past elections, one could argue that America's not ready to put a liberal Democrat in the White House. But I don't see anyone suggesting that liberal Democrats shouldn't run for president.

So why is there so much opposition among supposedly open-minded Democrats to Obama running? I'm not talking about those who have genuine concerns about whether he has enough experience - I'm talking about those who just flat-out say that he doesn't stand a chance because he's Black. The sad part is that many of the people saying this seem to include in their comments the caveat, "I'm not a racist, but . . ." or "*I* certainly don't have a problem with it, but . . ."

America may or may not be ready to elect a Black president. But suggesting that Obama shouldn't run because he's Black just in case America's not ready not only smacks of paternalism, it also helps to perpetuate a political apartheid that relegates Blacks to the back bench while all manner of qualified and unqualified White folks get to run to their hearts content, regardless whether they have any chance of winning.

I don't know whether America is ready to elect a Black president. But it certainly is sad that some Democrats, regardless how they try to spin it, don't seem to be.