Surely the most important thing about Obama is not the colour of his skin?

[sameagain]

I really do get the significance of him being the first African American president, but we need this man to save the world (a big ask I know) surely there are more important qualities than his skin colour.

Seething, what do you think constitutes being black? Is it that you must have no other racial constitution? I think blackness is largely perceived on what is visible, ie skin colour. For a very long time people have been mistreated on the basis of skin colour and I think this is the reference point for viewing this achievement as so remarkable.

KayHarker, no and I doubt they would say that exactly, but there are plenty want him dead, locked up or back picking cotton where he belongs.

There is all kinds of nasty stuff. Maybe the worst ones are just loonies, but he has been called the anti-christ and his presidency the start of a mass murder of unborn children and so on. He has upset racists and pro-life people too.

We talked about pro-life the other day and I know that plenty of reasonable people are pro-life, but there are fanatics too who think the answer is to throw rocks or bombs at clinics. It's a nasty world out there.

MrsMerryHenry, sadly I agree about the corruption thing. He may be basically decent even, but if you play in a crooked game of poker the only way you can win is to cheat too. I don't think any politician can get there without at least bending the rules.

i think the 'black' issue is being over-sold here. He is an "African-American", and the depth of the 'colour' of his skin, is a close second to this.

But yes, a US President who is even semi-articulate is a a wonder. But lets not forget, we ahd Blair who was very articulate, and could address the French 'senate' in French, and look how manipulative he was.......wasn't Obama a lawyer as well??

At this moment it probably is the most important thing. Of course it wont be as he continues in his term as the most powerful man on earth (SuperO!).

I have no problem with him being referred to as black. He is also referred as mixed race fairly often.

I happen to think you can be both.

His white grandmother is often cited as one of his greatest influences so his white heritage is hardly ignored.

The day he was elected my OH and I just kept looking at each other and grinning. (We are a mixed couple).

One thing that I would like to share. Its my beautiful, clever, brave, wonderful daughter's birthday today (yesterday now). She is no longer with us, she died in 2006. Somehow the fact that the 20th of January will go down in history is a comfort to me. Silly I know but it was a spark on an otherwise dark day.

Go O, Go O !

onager, I've seen some very unpleasant stuff regarding the colour of his skin, but as you know I'm a pro-life, and find myself a bit about being lumped in with racists and the idea that a pro-lifer would wish him dead. I'd just like to underline, categorically, that this pro-lifer disagrees with him emphatically on the policy issue, but the idea that I'd wish he was aborted makes me feel physically sick.

I don't wish him success on that issue, but I certainly pray for his protection against any fool who would want to harm him.

crikey, its kinda important....considering american history.

its kinda important considering the social make up of his voters - voters who never before bothers, voters who were disenfranchised with the system, believe that they took part in a democratic process.

yes its a big ask - but lets give him a try. maybe this one can spell

chegirl - x-posted, but I wanted to acknowledge your post - it doesn't sound silly in the slightest. It's made me feel a lot less cynical as I go off to bed, actually, so thank for sharing it.

Thank you KayHarkerisnot'

Thats a nice thing to say. Ta x

KayHarker, I didn't mean to depress you. You already know that I don't think you are like that.

It is a horrible thought, but there are people out there who identify with that same cause who are nevertheless nothing like you at all. You might think that being pro-life would go hand in hand with a respect for all life and perhaps for you it does, but that isn't always the case.

You are sharing a label with them. Unless you come up with a new name for your belief/cause or persuade them to use a new name for theirs you're going to see remarks about pro-lifers that bother you.

No, I know.

But, just like with being a Christian and having to acknowledge and face up to the bad behaviour of other Christians (and maybe address my own), being pro-life means I feel duty-bound to acknowledge the bad behaviour of other pro-life people, and let it challenge my own approaches.

Sometimes that means thinking about my own words, and how they're perceived, and other times it's just making it very clear that I completely reject that bad behaviour, e.g. the nutcases that think it's ok to kill Doctors and what-not.

Much as I am pro-life, I wouldn't be averse to giving idiots like that a sound slap, tbh. Between that and the crazy donut people, I sometimes think I'm the one who is insane.

His colour not relevant? Well to most black people both in and out of America, including me, it is relevant. Read his memoirs and you will understand why. Read about American history, the slave trade, how and why field slaves and house slaves were treated differently, colour coding (e.g. in the Cotton Club black female dancers had to be a certain shade of brown to get employment), the One Drop rule, the Brown Paper Bag rule, the John Crow Laws, segregation, Little Rock School, the rise of the Civil rights movements, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, miscegnation laws, why colleges like Howard and Spelman were established etc.

When you finally educate yourself, then you might realise why him being elected as the first African-American President is important and why it is wrong to try and trivilise its significance.

Now that he is President, we should focus on what he does, not his skin colour. However, please don't trivilise what his election means to many people of all races, colour and background.

Well said spokette. And can I simply say ditto!

Spokette - that was eloquently put. I think it is important we note his colour as significant - significant in the respect that hopefully this will take us one more step forward to a world where colour of skin is never an issue any more than eye colour.

DH has read Audacity of Hope (note to self must get around to reading it!) and he said Obama comes across as a highly intelligent and thoughtful person, and thinks he can do a lot of good.

The OP has really infuriated me.

The ignorance of people like the OP demonstrates why one needs to know and understand that what occurred in the past shapes what happens in the future. Without that reference, one is like a rudderless ship with no direction nor determinate end point.

Most black people in the USA, UK and the Caribbean are descendents of slaves. We can only trace our geneology so far because we don't know who are African forebears our. That is a scar we will always have to bear. The rise in the number of people interested in tracing their geneology demonstrates that people want to know who they are and where they are from. The glib and trite nonsense spouted by the likes of the OP demeans the suffering of those slaves and their ancestors, the lost of their identity as well as the hard won fight (which still continues) by the likes of the Civil Right Movement to be treated as an equal, as a legitimate human being, despite having an abundance of melanin in your skin.

Therefore to think that President Obama's colour should not have been an issue is quite frankly stupid.

It's also important because a record number of African-American and young voters came out to the polls showing them that their vote does make a difference. Hopefully, that alone will encourange their participation in future elections regardless of the race of the candidates. That shift in voters could have possibly changed how the political game is played in the US.

spokette - how did you manage to summarise my Op as saying his colour is not important? I said I absolutely recognise the significance of his being the first African American President, I'd just like to think there's more to him than that. I don't believe his colour should not have been an issue, I just wonder if it should be the most important issue. After all (and ,I'm deliberately using an extreme example) Robert Mugabe is black - doesn't make him a good president.

I'm delighted the American people found it in themselves to elect him - when he was selected I was worried they wouldn't and we'd get another Republican, but surely whether he's the right man for the job should depend on more than his skin colour.

Sameagain, I suggest you educate yourself with respect to American history and then you might understand why him being black was a big deal.

Your last sentence, especially this part "but surely whether he's the right man for the job should depend on more than his skin colour" demonstrates your ignorance and naivety I'm afraid. Fifty years ago or even 20 years ago, even if the best person for the job was black, no way would they have been elected as President.

Black people know from decades of experience that to be considered for a job, they have to be 100 times better than a white person. Its quite telling that Barack Obama is highly intelligent and well informed. Compare that to the last incumbent and the likes of Sarah Palin. If a black woman had been as woeful as Palin, no way would she even be elected as a school governor!