One reason (among many) that I voted for Obama in my primary is because he's black. So? Many women I know (white like me) say that they voted for Clinton because she is a woman. And the vast majority of these women unabashedly admit that the question of whether or not she'd make the best President wasn't even on their radar screens - she's a woman - I want a woman to be President - end of discussion.

Obama's "blackness" is important to this election and for important, substantive reasons. First, we have some major fence-mending to do across the globe. Electing a woman President may be a big deal in the U.S. but around the world Clinton's election would be met with a big yawn. They've been there, done that. There have been and continue to be women leaders in many countries around the world. BUT Obama's election - WOW that would have a very positive impact on how the world sees us. This is not just common sense. I live in a D.C. suburb with a very diverse, international community. I have talked to people from places such as France, Argentina, and Ghana. They all tell me how thrilled they and their friends and family at home are by the prospect of an Obama presidency. People want to believe in the promise of America - this gives them hope that it is real. Second, in the early sixties when I was about 4 or 5 my family lived in Kentucky. My parents were very active in the local civil rights movement. Bad things happened (thankfully nothing that caused lasting damage) - they broke all the windows in our house when we were out of town, harassing phone calls, stalking the house - stuff like that. I remember one day my parents told me and my siblings that we were going to go to an amusement park with some other families. We met these families outside the amusement park - a mix of black families and white families. I do not remember anything from the day other than having fun - segregation, non-violent protest, integration, racism, etc. were words I had heard but I was too young to fully grasp their meaning. Of course, now I do. Obama's election would send a powerful message to all those who fought, to all those who fought and died in the struggle for civil rights and to the nation: you no longer have to simply believe that we shall overcome -- we have overcome!!

You write: "There is no proof that a black President would automatically be seen as more positive than a female president. You are projecting your own view of what black people symbolize to liberal whites onto the rest of the world."

First, what do "black people symbolize to liberal whites"????? Please, elaborate.

Second, I did not pull this out of thin air. I have discussed this with several people from many countries around the globe - these people have all told me that a President Obama would most definitely improve our image because it would give the lie to the widely-held P.O.V. that the U.S. is xenophobic, racist, intolerant,etc, etc, that is, it would take the wind out of the sails of anti-Americanism which, in turn, would help us achieve the crucial task of repairing relations with the rest of the world. In order to understand the P.O.V.s of the people with whom I was conversing I had to listen to them which means that I was "projecting" nothing "onto" them.

Finally, I think that, in the context of repairing relations, a President Clinton would be viewed neutrally. In many parts of the world women leaders are "old hat" - I don't think the Germans or the British or, even, the Pakistanis will be as "wowed" by a women president as people in this country would be.

Wow, Obama truly is amazing!!!

He is:

an Israel-loving, Zionist, neo-con, hawk who is in cahoots with (gasp!!) Joe Lieberman

while at the same time he is:

an anti-semitic, secret Muslim who hates the U.S., hates Israel and loves Louis Farrakhan (via Jeremiah Wright)

quite a feat!!

(for the record, not all Orthodox Jews are Zionists.)