Racism

I woke up this morning thinking about a conversation I had with someone earlier this year. I don't know why this train of thought keeps traversing my consciousness, but I want to share it.


Ginger and I were at a friend's dinner party when I became involved in conversation with the only other male person there. I don't remember his name, but he was the significant other to one of the girls there that Ginger had worked with at Everglades University. He was a tall, fit, clean cut and well spoken young man that had recently finished his service in the U.S. Navy.

We had been talking about his experiences in the Navy when the subject matter turned to the presidential hopefuls including Clinton, Obama, McCain and Ron Paul. He asked me who I liked and I replied, "I have been a republican my whole life, but my faith in the republican party has faltered during the past two presidential terms. My father graduated from the Naval Academy a few years after McCain and even flew the same type A-4 Skyhawk aircraft that McCain was shot down in. I'd really like for our next president to have an extensive background of honorable service to our country, so you might think I would be leaning toward McCain, and I would be if it wasn't for Ron Paul's presence here. I am going to vote for Ron Paul since I agree with most of his views including foreign policy, financial policy, taxes, the gold standard, the federal reserve, government spending, federal agencies, and the Patriot Act. He also honorably served as a U.S Air Force flight surgeon, and I really feel that he is one of the only true republicans left who respects our Constitution."

I then asked who he favored. He simply said, "Well, I'm black, so obviously I'm voting for Obama..."

There was no prelude to that comment what so ever. Not one thing was said about what would make Barack Obama a good leader of our country. I asked what he liked about Obama and the answer was simply "He stands for change". In keeping with my party atmosphere congeniality and etiquette, I just let his comment go, continuing the conversation with the same respectful interaction and eventually the topic drifted away from politics and toward something more appropriately related to the bottle of Grey Goose that sat between us.

Amazing