When are you gonna get over It? "It" in this case being the fact that you are about as "black" as Obama, culturally and self-consciously, and that "It" colors (no pun intended)your every attempt at intelligent discourse on anything remotely involving race. Oh, and then there's that Other "It", your dedication to feminism, however ill-defined or irrelevant. Between the two you just can't hope to say anything meaningful or honest - at least until you start being honest with yourself.

Could it be that people dig Obama simply because he is an electrifying presence? Could it be they really don't give a rat's ass about his race? I mean, one really does need a program (or is it an owner's manual?) to figure out who, by your standards, is Black and who is, uh, whatever the hell you have pronounced the good senator to be instead of Black. It just may not matter! If a totally typical Black guy (kindly fill in the blanks for me there, will you? I'm trying to imagine what you think a "real" Black American man looks, sounds, smells and feels like) showed up with the same gifts would he have done as well? Quite probably. But he didn't. And no, Jesse Jackson is no "typical American Black man." No way in hell. Neither is he now nor has he ever been in a position to become president of these United States. Not because he's "actually Black" but because rhyming doth not an orator make. Nor a statesman. He's cool by me, but he doesn't have what it would have taken. Sharpton? Same thing, only with a process.

Hell, Bill Clinton is probably more "Black" than Obama according to your convoluted standard!

Most of all, perhaps, though, Obama is not only "not Black" - he is a man. That may well be problematic enough for you, Debra. And that truly makes me sad.

The parade will start with or without you. In fact it already did.

because I really feel like everything is wrong with this letter and Cary's response. Maybe it is just faked, which would be a relief. But let's assume it is real - sweet Jesus! - and dissect it.

LW's daughter will have a fit if anything else is changed in her life. OK, The Kid didn't get that way in a vacuum; she got that way by being catered to and accomodated constantly. Now if this bizarre story is true (and the financial part just makes no sense at all, but then again it's a "small town" - yet no one has discovered this gigantic lie so far) daughter needs a dose of reality, and fast! She is at the age when she really can get stuck being the way she is, for god's sake! Why won't LW bring her into her life? She is lying for chrissake, and also depriving her daughter of the pleasure of being fully a part of her life when she still legally and sensibly IS fully a part of her life, a minor child, a dependent, who is being deceived in the pursuit of a lovely dream of her mother's which does not include her. If mommy dearest really doesn't want her daughter to be part of her "secret" life, then tell her so and let her start getting over it now, so we won't have to read the really horrible follow-up screed in a few years when daughter grows up and learns to hate her lying, delusional mother.

On the other hand, if she truly loves her daughter and doesn't take her for the pain in the ass she has become by virtue of giving in to her every demand (guilt is a terrible motivation for damn near anything)then she should be willing and eager to share with her the joy of her new-found life. And Money.

Evil, mean-spirited, dream-crushing, suspicious, probably frightened by a lesbian as a child, yep, that's me. Just lie to your kid, become a land-baron on your ex's 18 grand per year, live a pretend life in a house THREE times the size of the one my ex just bought me out of for 37 times the LW's ex's annual salary (did I mention the math here is suspect?), and live your "real" life in the fashionably downscale neighborhood your daughter would probably love to at least see, since she's not allowed to live there...or visit there...or even know exists.

Yeah, that's the ticket. And I'll buy the dump next door and retire and blast Hank Williams records day and night, I swear to god! (And Cary, you know that's the truth).

I suppose the rhyming was too easy a mark. There's just a lot less to Mr. Jackson than meets the eye - in my most humble opinion. And he never was going to get the nod, you know that as well as I do. The main reason was his failure to attain the state DD used as the title of her piece. Don't you think? (No, I'm not questioning whether you think or not - I was wondering if, upon reflection, perhaps you agree).