The country is absolutely ready for a black president. In fact, I will venture to say that folks right of center yearn for a black president more so than those on the Left. Why? Because those on the Right are sick and tired of America being called a racist country, while those on the Left are invested in such a perception.

Obama is simply not the candidate. He's too green and too far on the Left.

"a racist country" ? you mean the land? the soil? the map? or do you mean to say "those on the left" are "invested" in seeing each and every person in the nation as racist?

if "those on the right' are so sick and tired of being thought of as racist, then the GOP (for one thing) ought to stop employing blatant racist appeals as part of their platforms!

Well the way I see it if you really want America to get better you have to admit when there's a problem. You can't fix a problem you won't admit to having. And racism is a problem.

There are a lot of Americans who aren't racist towards legal American citizens, don't want to blame a fellow American. But they still use racism when they blame Muslims and Mexican immigrants for our problems without looking at themselves.

I am aware that many people in other countries have a skewed view of America. I don't blame them, it's hard to get the real story from the media and so many people don't bother to find alternative viewpoints or they are censored etc. I think you can't change others as easily as you can change yourself. So if you think somoene has a skewed view of you, make sure you don't do the same thing to them and stereotype them and not know the real story.

Which is why blogs like this are so cool, incidentally.

Barack Obama is not "Black". He's "Mulatto".

Why aren't Mexican-American identified as indigenous? We're the biggest tribe here. Hispanic is not a race!

I'm so-o-o-o tired of hearing, "I'm not a racist but, Illegal immigrants, blah, blah, blah".... from supposedly liberal White Americans and self-loathing Latinos

well...molina, "mulatto" is a word that shouldn't really be used anymore. it has some nasty origins, and i think most prefer it to die a quiet death. and personally, i see barack as "black." i think he claims as much, and its his call. if i saw him on the street, i'd think he was "black," i know that.

on the rest, i agree wholeheartedly.

Couldn't the same case be made for the word "Mestizo" of "Latino"? If European/African mixed race people are by default "Black", then why aren't European/Indigenousmixed race people by default "Indigenous"?
(or Native American or Indians...)

When people look at Mestizos like you or me, do they see someone indigenous as the first thought in their minds?

i'm not positive what "case" you mean, but if you mean regarding my "nasty origins" comment, yes, the case probably could be made for "mestizo," given the history of how the word came to be applied, and the values therein. but i don't think so for "latino," as that doesn't have the same derogatory component. and to my knowledge, none are as universally understood to be a negative to the degree that "mulatto" is. of course, yeah, these things vary from region to region and age to age. but as far as i know, calling a mixed-race black person "mulatto" is going to be heard negatively.

i dont know who is black by default, i just said that when i look at him, i think of him as black.

i've often wondered what people see when they look at me. i think it can vary, depending no who they are, where they come from, what i look like at the given m oment...but i can't know. and i try not to get caught up too much in that question. it seems unknowable and unproductive anymore.

La Molina, well, as you probably know, race isn't actually about genetics, it's about society; and in US society Obama is Black and calls himself Black. Sure he's mixed as are almost all African Americans who call themselves Black, but "Mulatto" fell by the wayside before "Oriental", regardless of how other communities have chosen to negotiate self-identifying language, ya know? It's really not a matter of finding a theoretically consistent semantic system, it's just about listening to how communities and individuals elect to identify themselves and having the respect to follow their lead. Whatever you call yourself, that's what I'm gonna call you. That's how I see it anyway.

"I'm not a racist but...

When someone starts a sentence by saying that they are not a racist, they are

hola amor