Obama Clinches Nomination

When the campaign began I really was skeptical that America would accept a black president. That was a factor in my thinking about John Edwards. But over time I have come to reevaluate things.

I think there is a generational divide. Those under 35 really are less racist than the older generations, for the obvious reason that they were born after the victories of the civil rights movement. That is one of the reasons why Obama has such a strong showing in this segment of the electorate.

The percentage of black Democrats and the percentage of Christian conservatives in the Republican party is roughly the same. Both of these constituencies play a critical role in their respective parties ability to win in a general election. While it is true that some voters who are queasy about having a black president will perhaps decide for McCain or stay home, it is equally true that a decision to chose Clinton over Obama on the basis of race is sure to have repercussions with black voters.

On the issue of having a Muslim father. Let us suppose that his father was not just a Muslim but involved in some questionable radical Muslim sect, what does that have to do with the son he deserted. He did not take responsibility for Barack Obama who was raised by a single mother and her parents. There is no Muslim gene after all!

Obama writes about his anger at his father and their failure to connect on the few occasions when they met.

Let's weight the opposite side. Intolerance about Muslems as a group goes against the very best that this country stands for--respect for the individual and freedom of religion. Very few Muslems in this country have reprehensible connections to radical sects; as I understand it most have made respectable, middle class lives for themselves just as my parents who were the Jewish children of immigrants did.

When my father went to Columbia University he wanted to be an engineer but his mother convinced him that the reality of anti-semitism meant that he would never get a job. Instead she urged him to become an accountant. He followed her guidance and earned the highest grade in his class which in every other case entailed a job offer from a leading New York accounting firm. You guessed it. No such job was offered to my father.

He and my mother were not religious but they were acutely aware of anti-semitism. When we travelled for example, they were on the look out for No Jews/No Dogs signs. These attitudes changed during and especially after WWII, but I remember them. Well the U.S. has not had a Jewish president.
Catholics were also subject to prejudice and this was a factor that concerned people before JFK was elected.

It is about time I think, that we let the under 35's educate the rest of us, and we take a giant step away from all this divisive prejudice. To my mind the numbers of interracial marriages plus the adoptions across racial lines that are now accepted are a sign that we can beat any "inelectibility" that Obama may have on this score.

I have been thinking that Bill Richardson would make a good runing mate for Obama. Think about it. He is an example of the integration and acceptance of Hispanics in our midst. And he speaks damn good English. I have listened to him during the early part of the campaign and since he endorsed Obama and I am impressed.

A lot will rest with people like you and me I think. We have to weigh in against prejudice where and when we find it. Not by being abrasive and self-righteous (I am addressing that remark to my better self, I don't mean that you are abrasive--quite the contrary) but by understanding that Americans can do better than that.

Just a little example. I freeze inside and feel anger when I see women wearing a Muslem get up, and I have schooled myself to counter that with a warm smile or pleasant manner when the occasion arises. I think that many younger women are wearing the veil etc., because they resent the prejudice against Muslems that they know is out there; or they feel that our culture is over-the-top on espousing libertine, consumerist values, as well as some who really believe that God wants women to be hidden from men's sight.

When I was an adolescent most of my girl friends came from homes like mine where religion was definitely on the back burner. They certainly did not come from homes where Orthodox Jewish practises prevailed. However when it came to marrying and establishing their own homes many decided to become Orthodox and observe Kosher food practises etc. By the way Orthodox Jewish women were also supposed to keep their hair covered (and some shaved their heads and wore wigs as an acceptable compromise.) Many Jewish settlers in Israel are immigrants from the U.S. who embrace a fundamentalst view of the Jewish religion. And as you may know the Jewish morning prayer that a man says includes thanking God that he was not born a woman.

Perhaps I have strayed from mhy point. IMO this election campaign is a good time to look prejudice squarely in the face and say a resounding, NO. I fear and reject the theocratic, implications of fundamentalism whether Christian, Jewish, Muslem or Hindu, and the treatment of women which is part of the package. But I know that we will not be able to bridge the gap while we tolerate ignorant prejudice of the sort that assumes that Barack Obama, a baptised Christian who has attended church for the past 20 years, is a Muslem because his estranged father may have practised the relion.