Quote Originally Posted by FreeVenice
I just don't want his skin color to be the only reason he's there. . .
And I don't want it to be the only reason he's not.

I guess what it all comes down to is: What does middle (read: predominantly white male) America find more threatening in the White House; a n*^^*$, or a woman. One or the other is bound to happen eventually. Those folks who find this a driving concern should just be thankful it's not Oprah who's running, because they'd find themselves with both in the same enormously popular candidate.

And Breukelen Advocaat: American Blacks have a loooong history of discriminating against each other based on skin tone. This goes back to slavery, when the "lightskinned" slaves were often chosen to be house servants, where they "enjoyed" (tongue firmly in cheek) a higher standard of living compared to their brown and black skinned brethren who were largely field workers. Those blacks of lighter hue were seen to be sellouts, asskissers, etc., in the eyes of other blacks. Conversely, blacks of lighter hue bought into the notion of superiority by virtue of their mixed ancestry, and in turn discriminated against darker blacks. It's a tangled mess, perpetuated by slave owners in order to increase their control and property holdings. I recommend the book Who Is Black? One Nation's Definition, by F. James Davis for further exploration of this phenomenon.