Eric Weiner, the NPR commentator, recently discussed his new book:The Geography of Bliss. Weiner reported that the happiest countries on earth are those that are homogeneous - very little ethnic,religious or racial diversity. One conclusion I came to is that it's difficult for people, in all parts of the globe, to truly feel comfortable with people who are different than themselves.

Look at your friends - how different are they from you? Most, but certainly not all of us would generally describe their friends as being very much like themselves. I would say it's like this all over the world.

I think there are two issues here:

1. We all need to admit that people who are different from us often make many of us uncomfortable. While I am fairly liberal, I have observed most of my friends have similar views to my own. I have some conservative friends - but not many that I hang out with. I have observed that the old adage "birds of a feather flock together" is true. Let's just admit this.

2. It's also a good time to be honest with ourselves and start looking at people - as people.

Being candid and admitting our "both-and mindset" (he's both multi racial and talented) is the next step to living harmoniously in a diverse culture. Pretending that race or gender don't matter is not reality. I have no idea how widespread it is, but bias or fear of differentness won't go away by denying its existence.

By acknowledging that bias does exist, we may get to the root of the real problem behind the bias. Perhaps it's that we don't think a woman or a bi-racial man have the goods to truly protect us or stand up to our supposed enemies. I think in the end it's our unconscious or unstated fears that prevent us as seeing people for who they are, and not as some stereotype.

Clinton or Obama represent the new game where true talent and skill are the only issues - not race, gender of religion. We actually have an opportunity to transcend the old male dominated, hierarchical and control oriented thinking and move to a more conscious, balanced and realistic way of thinking.

Good for us - and welcome to the 21st century.

When faced with two seemingly equal choices, the typical response is to ultimately put down the choice not taken. Suddenly the 2nd choice becomes "damaged goods".

In this case I have chosen Hillary Clinton, but in no way is Barack Obama damaged goods. He is also an excellent choice and I'll support him if he wins the nomination.

But I must share a sense of mystery about why Hillary Clinton draws such enmity. I think she is focused, intelligent and a mature and caring person . I think her life experience is a plus as is her political experience - both elected and unelected. Yet she is often portrayed as the Antichrist, venal, dishonest and craven in her quest to be president.

The hostility toward her seems unjustified; but that unremitting hostility may prevent her from receiving the nomination. What seems odd to me is that Sen. Obama is portrayed as representing fresh new ideas and an advocate for change.

Yet when I examine both their records, I don't see much difference. And with partisan politics the basic fabric of our country, I don't see Sen. Obama bringing the country together any more than Sen. Clinton. Politics is tough in the U.S. and entrenched positions won't go away just because someone speaks well.

In my opinion neither candidate, and especially no Republican candidate, has talked about the really tough issues our country faces such as:

How do we take our place as a member of the world community and not as the one calling all the shots? Our brief time as the one calling the shots is over.

How do we deal with the misguided idea that terrorism is the key issue for our country? We have about bankrupted ourselves in this utterly misguided attempt to control that which we don't understand and can't fix.

How are we as a nation going to deal with global warming and truly protect the future for our children?

What are we going to do about rebuilding our infrastructure such as roads, bridges, underground pipes and crumbling levees and weakened dams?

What are we going to do about vastly increasing our renewable energy resources?

Truthfully neither Obama or Clinton have talked much about these issues. So the idea that Sen.Obama is going to solve these problems seems far fetched to me, Charisma doesn't solve problems not faced in the first place. Does this mean that Sen. Clinton will do any better? I don't know, but I feel she has the goods to do the job.

I like Sen. Obama and have heard him speak in person, ans will support him if he's nominated. However, I am skeptical about good talkers. Too often they can't really deliver - which is why I support Hillary Clinton because I believe she more fully understands the issue we need to deal with.