Let's not start blowin each other just yet.......

Last night the nation elected it's first African American President, and that's a good thing. It's a bitter pill to swallow for some, in their mind it marks the beginning of the end. Here in Midtown, especially to the east, the night air was filled with cheering, horn honking, and gunfire. The gunfire part, probably not the best move, those little lead pieces have to fall back to earth, per Issac Newton, still you can't blame folks for being excited over such a monumental moment in time. As much as it pleases me to see Obama take the White House, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to piss on everyone's parade. Hey, it's what I do.

First of all, John McCain, while I disagree with his politics, there is no denying that the guy loves this country and is a class act. His speech conceding the election to Obama was poignant and dignified. In my opinion there are two reasons McCain lost; first he refused to play gutter politics, proving that he really is different from the majority of politicians, secondly, his running mate was an anchor around his neck. While many conservatives fell all over each other with admiration and adulation over the lipsticked pit bull, she scared the shit out of the moderate undecided voters. That's just my opinion, which also happens to be dead on.

Now to Obama. He has a long row to hoe. For every gushing supporter who thinks Obama will solve the problems in this country, for all of the people who believe he will single handily right all wrongs and turn this country in to Shangri La, I offer up this quote , albeit slightly cleaned up, " Let's not start blowing each other just yet". In other words, winning was just the first step, he has the easy part done, the talking, now he has to follow through. While African Americans , all Americans, have every right to be excited about this monumental election, the fat lady has still yet to sing. For Obama to be truly successful, he must break free of the label "the first black president". Now he has to become just "The President".

Obama now has to prove to ALL Americans that he was the right guy for the job, and not just another in a long line of politicians blowing smoke up the collective ass of America. He has his work cut out for him. The entire nation will be watching his every move, and he needs to watch where he steps. The sore losers, the mouth breathers, the douche nozzles, and the morons, all are waiting to pounce at his first mistake. Some people will ignore the 99 positive moves he may make, and focus on the one bad move, whatever it may be, and there will be some bad moves, poor decisions, ill fated plans.

At the end of the day, I hope we will move in the right direction. Obama on the surface is a calm, level headed, intelligent guy, and that's what this country needs right now. If he remains true to that demeanor, if he avoids divisiveness, if he doesn't abuse the power he has been entrusted with, I think he will go on to be a great leader, but the jury is still out, he has to follow through. He can't steam roll over the now minority Republicans in the Senate, he has to cross party lines, he must remain even handed. Time will tell.

For now, I'll leave you with this. I was listening to NPR the day before the election. a son was interviewing his father for a college class he was taking. The interview was about , what it meant to the father to see an African American running for the White House, with a real chance of winning. The father and son were African American. The son asked his father, what it all meant to him, and while I can't quote him verbatim, I can come close. He said" I grew up in a time when we were still fighting for our right to vote, to be equal. I fought in Vietnam, I served my country, but I never felt equal. this makes me feel equal. More importantly, it means I can say to my son, if you work hard, if you apply yourself, if you want it bad enough, you can be anything you want, even president."

Let's talk about the elephant in the room

Yeah, that one, the wide assed, day glo orange in honor of Halloween, 20 ton pachyderm, standing next to grandma's credenza, smack dab in the middle of the living room. Careful watch where you're walkin, you don't want to be steppin in that.

Let me go way the fuck out on a limb here and make a really wild accusation; This election is polarized by fear, race, and a small minority of mouth breathers that are making everyone, on both sides, look, like, shit. I say a small minority, and I want to believe it, but I am beginning to have my doubts. I'm beginning to think that it runs deeper.

I took these pictures along Ward Parkway, in the low 60's, not sure of the exact street, trust me if you drive by them you can't miss them. These are big signs, 6 foot or so wide. If you are in denial, or on the defensive, you might be thinking, "What does race have to do with it ?", please cut that shit out right now. Never in my memory has a candidate drawn the type of reactions, and vile shit spewing as has Obama. Before I offend my lone Russian expatriate reader, let me just state the obvious, the vandalism in these pictures, is not a political statement nor is it even about the former USSR. This is the politically correct way to avoid a hate crime charge by saying what they really want to say, so allow me to translate. What the vandals wanted to say is " How dare you have the audacity to put up a sign in support of the funny named Muslim terrorist, you fuckin nigger lover", or something to that effect. It's about intimidation, instead of white hoods, they used spray paint.

Look, this race has been embroiled in race from the git go. And it hasn't been just whites, it's been blacks and Hispanics as well. First there was the black folks, who said Obama wasn't black enough, he wasn't an African American, just African. WTF, I didn't get it, still don't. There was the hushed voices from the Hispanic community, many of them as devoutly racist as the worst Cracker from Bug Tussle Arkansas. There are the whites who come right out and say it, "Don't want no galldamn nigger in the white house, and the more subtle ones, the ones who throw around a middle name as if it is an indictment of a mans character.

While many may not believe me, I would be just as quick to slam anyone who attacked McCain in the same manner, but that has not happened, not on such a personal level. Nobody called McCain a baby killer, and after all he flew a plane in Nam, I'm sure someone in the military killed some baby's back then, so guilt by association, right? Fuck no that's not right, it's ridiculous, and it is equally ridiculous and offensive when folks call Obama a terrorist by association.

I was just a kid, but I was around when George Wallace ran for president. A more reprehensible scumbag, you would be hard pressed to find. There was nowhere near the kind of vitriol and plain hate filled horse shit over Wallace as there has been over Obama.

And Breath......................................................

Okay, let me just say that I don't think most conservatives condone this type of thing. This isn't really about politics, as much as people try to pretend it is. Look, we are all a little racist, have some knee jerk reactions, based on color, looks, etc. When I'm outside walking the dogs at night, and I see a couple of young black guys, clothes saggin, hoods on, approaching me , I tense up, I watch them, closely. I haven't had a gun stuck in my face by anyone black, ever. I have had some white people stick guns in my face, sometimes they had badges, sometimes not. My point is, that doesn't make me a Klansman, it makes me human, and not for nothin, but around this area, it makes me smart too. Those same young black guys will automatically assume the worst when a white cop pulls them over, even if they aren't doing anything wrong, and even if they have never been treated poorly by the cops, they will still assume the worst, it's just how we are wired.

So whats my point? My point is, we have come a long way in this country, but not nearly far enough, and we probably never will get there. Here's the rub, there will always be sub sections of society, on all sides of the racial, political and religious divide, who make the rest of us look bad.

So now that we have recognized the elephant, lets just call it what it is. Business as usual.