Barack Obama is a biracial man, having received 50% of his DNA from his “white” American mother and 50% of his DNA from his “black” African father.

Barack Obama looks more like his father than his mother because for unknown reasons the part of DNA that controls skin color, hair type, and other characteristics of physical appearance is generally more dominant in “black” DNA than in “white” DNA.

His father happened to be very intelligent and passed that potential along to his son through the part of his DNA that directs brain building. His mother was no intellectual slouch either and half of her son’s brain building DNA came from her.

Barack Obama barely knew his father who left when Barack was 2 years old. Young Barack was raised and nurtured primarily by his mother and his maternal grandparents, and he received a first rate education.

Perhaps the example of Barack Obama will help the human race begin to understand that the brain of each individual is built by a new combination of parental DNA whose brain building capability is independent of whatever characteristics of physical appearance other parts of that DNA happen to produce; and once built, that new human brain, in combination with the nurturing, education, and experience it receives, develops functional capabilities that are equally independent of whatever characteristics of physical appearance that individual’s DNA produces.

In short, the quality of brain building DNA matters; nurturing, education, and experience matter; but characteristics of physical appearance produced by other parts of one’s DNA are unrelated to the functional capabilities of one’s brain. They don’t matter.

Senator Barack Obama is an intelligent, articulate, and insightful 47 year old American whose best years lie ahead of him; a man who graduated near the top of his class at Harvard Law School and was president of its Law Review; a man who understands and respects the American constitution because he was an instructor of constitutional law for 12 years at the University of Chicago Law School; a man familiar with the American legislative process because he served 3 terms as an Illinois State Senator and the past 4 years as a US Senator; a man acquainted with Washington but one who also brings fresh ideas and a passion for bringing about important and necessary changes in Washington.

Senator Barack Obama is the man America needs today, and he is the man who can lead America into the future.

I hope that it will be so. I have been pounding the streets, working the phones, making the case at every possible turn, e.g.,

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/nov/01/smear-campaign-reflects-poorly-mccain/

Took my grandson to the Obama rally here in Vegas today:

http://www.bgladd.com/Obama/ObamaNVrally110108/

I'm gonna be a wreck 'til Wednesday.

Filled up with a bunch of know-nothing "his name doesn't look like all the other white guy's names" voters. They supposedly reflect the country at large? How f**king depressing is that?

Is this not just one more way how Obama is a Uniter...not a Divider, like McCain-Palin.

As much as I am saddened by the continued racism, discrimination and prejudices lurking in the US, I'm proud that a Democrat is bringing all Americans together.

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Obama 2008

"Mad McCain" videos: http://tv1.com/playlists/show/11

I'm from Perry County, raised in Thornville on the county's northern edge. What Mr. Shapiro writes resonates strongly with me. Though I don't know anything about our KKK past, I do know that many of my older relatives, folks born up to WWI, used the N word as often as not when talking about African-Americans, and when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s, there were only whites on the sports teams that I played on or against in the county schools. It wasn't until I went to basketball camp or was on a team that played against Columbus or Newark schools that I even met an African-American. But still things had changed. The Ciivil Rights movement was on TV for all to see, and slowly but surely, TV, movie, music and sports stars who were black became our idols. Politics seems to be the last bastion of the color line for people my age.

Barack has changed that though because of the era and because of who he is. After 8 years of an intellectually and judgement challenged whitey in the presidency, people are ready for change. Some Perry County folk might be a bit out of whack when it comes to national trends, but others have traveled, have interacted with folks of different backgrounds, and have learned that the precepts that they used to only pay lip service to --"all men are created equal" being one--are in fact deeply true. We've also leaned that the goodness, wisdom and the vision of a man has nothing to do with the color of his skin.

Barack Obama, in his book The Audacity of Hope, spells out his vision, one which takes the common man into consideration, one that see justice for all, not just for the rich and well to do, one that argues intelligently about the major issues of our time in a way that shows his broad understanding of history, his grasp of current problems and his ability to empathize with people, whether those in Perry County or Chicago, in Indonesia, Iraq, Israel or the USA.

Does this mean that my Perry County kin will vote for Obama. Nope. Many of them still harbor too many doubts, which are kept alive in the negative campaigning/ stereotyping by the old tent dude McCain and his beauty queen sidekick. Words like socialist, Marxist, Muslim, those all bring up scary images for Perry Countians, even though many don't even know what the words really mean.

But others of us do know---and we know that McCain's policies, economic, foreign and otherwise, are just regurgitated George Bush, we know that the wealthy have benefitted disproportionately under the current admin and that America's reputation, now in the world gutter, will suffer the same under McCain/Palin, and we can recognize a well-heeled snake charmer when we see one.

Brad Blackstone for Obama/Biden 2008!