When do we stop walking on eggshells?

Gee, I remember when Bob Dole's wife made a half-assed run for president almost 10 years ago. Just because she was a woman didn't mean I agreed with her politics. I totally opposed her. People would do best to vote their beliefs and ideals, rather than race or gender. It's not that complicated.

I feel very much like I'm walking on eggshells as I try to put my feelings here into the right words but, what the heck, I'll give it a try anyway. First of all, I'm sure you're well aware Armstrong Williams is a liar, he has no intention of voting for Obama under any circumstances and that wouldn't change whether he was 100% black or 100% purple! Unless I'm mistaken he's the obnoxious jerk who fills in for Rush Limbaugh now and then; whether he is or not I'd lay odds that he benefited enormously from affirmative action but is now totally against the whole premise. I agree totally that nobody should decide who to vote for based on race or gender or anything other than the issues at hand, but the truth is there are far more people who have voted or are planning to vote AGAINST someone due to race or gender than FOR them for one of those reasons. I agree with you that in the scenario you described you and your friends would be called racists just as those who have admitted in polls that race or gender is a factor in their voting choices. I think most racists still are uneducated people who don't know better but I know they're not the only ones. I'm not saying they're right but I can understand at least a little bit how some blacks and some women feel this year. Think about it - every single President and Presidential nominee from a major party has been a white male and we're now up to the third Presidential election of the twenty-first century. What if the situation were reversed and there had never been a white President in the history of our nation? What if it had been the ancestors of us white people who had been property of black families a century and a half ago? What if we or our parents remembered when many doors were closed to us just because of the color of our skin? Wouldn't there be just a little temptation to feel a great deal of pride and even some loyalty to the "one of us" who had made it this close to the highest position in the land if not the world? At the same time, what if you were a woman who remembered being denied the right to vote which would basically mean you weren't considered a "full person" in terms of being a citizen of the United States? Wouldn't you also feel some pride and loyalty when one of your own had come this far? I don't condone or defend racism or sexism of any kind no matter who's the culprit and who's the victim but trying to understand someone's pride and loyalty to their own race or gender is not the same as being racist or defending racism or sexism. I hope I've walked carefully enough so as to not break all the eggshells! The last thing I want to do is offend anyone or second guess their choice of who to vote for and why. Annie

This is brain numbing that black conservatives would vote for Obama just because he might have some of the same race in him. I also heard that J.C Watts former Congressmen was thinking about voting for Obama. If any Black conservative does this they, in my book, lose the right to call themselves a conservative. There is no way anyone can call themselves a Conservative and votes for Obama.

it's a sad world if people cast their vote for any reason other than supporting that persons political policies. vote for the person you think is most suitable for the job, and nearest to representing your views and wishes. not just going for the one with the best skin colour, however you perceive that to be, or the prettiest, or the best dressed.

yeah,i am happy to seed you who must be a well educated person came up with this discussion,you are not a racist i am glad tosee that,every one should birth with equality. i konw little thing about America only from movie,you are too far away from me.

i hope you will vote for Obama and i really like Obama.

In my country all the black people will see me as a racist. It is very complicated sometimes, and it definitely shouldn't be like that at all.

What is really strange to me is that the blacks who are voting for Obama for racial reasons are voting for him just becasue he LOOKS black, not because he IS black. As you have pointed out, he has 6.75% black blood. It doesn't make sense to me.

Yestheypayme2dothis, I was shocked and saddened to read about Mr. Williams and his voting dilema! It is a long time to November and I just don't see hime voting for Obama but I ask you; Does this really surprise you? Obama's entire campaign has been on race and finally getting a black in the whitehouse! Any white votes he picked up along the way was just "gravy"! My fear is that Hillary has a secret bit of information with damning proof and the "stupid-delegates" will not have a choice but to take him(Obama) down. Now you may say this is good but with the campaign being about race I see riots of the magnitude America has never seen in her 200 plus years!

Yes, you would be considered racist and so would I. However, I am not sure who I am voting for either because personally I do not feel that either are good candidates for the job. Not because one is white or black or man or woman. But, with your talk show host you are making it sound like a race issue which for a while Obama said he did not want it to be. But, it seems that it is a big issue now and it seems to me that Obama is stirring it up as much as anyone!

i hope you will vote for Obama and i really like Obama.

When it comes to electing someone for office, it should be on their merits/issues, not having to do with race. As someone else has said, Obama started the race issue when he first announced his candidacy. I have no idea if he wrote his own speech or had a speech writer. But that sentence should never have been included if he indeed didn't want race to be an issue. But, it seems to keep coming up in his campaign. I've heard several prominent black journalists say they would not vote for Obama. They aren't talking about race, either, but his ability to run our country. Candidates should stay away from the race issue and talk about what they are preparing to do if chosen President of the US. But making everything that doesn't set well with you a racist issue gives them something to talk about and keeps the real issues that this country faces from having to be discussed.