i'd forgotten that obama was black...

okay, so maybe not so much "forgotten." i guess that's not really possible. i'm sure i'd have been able to answer the question if someone were to have asked me if he was. it just was no longer a conscious thought. the whole "first major presidential candidate to be black" thing was no longer a focus of anything. this probably would have raised my faith in humanity a bit, but, of course, i *didn't notice.* it just kinda happened.

but then three wackos had to pull out some half-baked scheme to "harm obama" because "blacks don't belong in political office."

i'm sure there are many who feel this way, many who won't even admit it themselves. they'll come up with other excuses: he was raised without a strong male figure, he went to a madrasah, he's a muslim (really? this is a relevant argument? do they actually know anything about islam? these are probably the same people who'd punch me for calling them "niggardly" because they'd think that it's an insult worse than the actual meaning or their perceived meaning would appear to the average person), or whatever. these people would not have forgotten.

then there are those who are supporting obama *because* he is black. perhaps they are black, and they want one of their own in the white house. perhaps they want to make history. perhaps they just want to piss off their parents. whatever the reasoning, these people will also not have forgotten.

of course, there's nothing to stop people from voting based on whatever criteria they choose. i could vote for mccain based on the fact that his last name is alphabetically closer to my last name than obama's (i suppose my theoretical "new" last name would be closer to obama's, but i'm not legally changing my name... bad luck for obama), i could vote for obama because his face looks cooler on a t-shirt (admit it--mccain's face on a t-shirt would be infinitely creepier), or i could vote for bob barr because his mustache makes me think he wants to be a porn star. nobody can stop me.

oh, back to the point. i haven't thought about it for very long, but i feel like the only purpose their attack will serve is to motivate one or two lukewarm obama supporters and one or two mildly racist voters to get to the polls. had they succeeded, however, hillary probably could have ridden the emotional wave into the white house. what were these guys trying to do again?