a new day?

The US has elected a totem, a symbol for its President. I have felt for many, many months now that Barack Obama's biggest asset in this election was his black skin. In a time when many Americans felt like their nation has done so many things wrong: the war in Iraq, the failed economy which is bringing down the world economy--the one thing the little man could do "right" would be to elect a black man President, thus putting behind, once and for all, the national disgrace, the national shame, of racism. The little man might be racist in his behavior, but he could say to himself that he was not--"I voted for a black man for President, didn't I?" No matter what anyone says, I believe that many whites voted for Obama because he was black more than because of what he said.