As If

The historical significance of Barack Obama's election is not lost on me. The first African-American president is something I was sure I'd never see in my life time. Only historians will be able to say that this moment was a watershed moment in American history, if in fact more than a new leaf was turned, but an entire new volume begun.

And for the past few days, national figures have been congratulating themselves and Americans for taking this historic step. "See, we're not racist!" Yet this morning Maureen Dowd writes an entire column about nearly every white person she knows quizzing every black person they meet on how they 'feel' about Obama's election.

As if the color of his skin was in any way a qualification for the job.

The fact that Barack Obama was elected as president says more about the American public than it does about Obama himself. And as a nation we deserve a moment to reflect upon this moment. But let us not forget that this event pales in comparison to the issues that loom for Barack Obama.

Let us also not forget that an incredibly qualified candidate had to run a near-perfect campaign against an old-school campaign and candidate of the incumbent party only to win the popular vote by six points. And nearly a week after his election the only thing we can discuss is the color of his skin. The celebrations should not be held until we can confidently say that Obama was elected because he was the best candidate and not simply because there wasn't an even comparable white candidate. If a mirror-image white candidate of Obama had run on the Republican side, is there really any doubt as to which candidate would have won? If the Republicans had been able to produce a candidate who ran an intellectually, fact-based campaign instead of one based on fear and emotion, where would the Democrat Obama be now?

The excitement this country should be feeling is about the renewed hope, about the one-hundred and eighty degree turn that we made in one day. The excitement should be about the fact that we are literally standing on the edge of extinction and for the first time we have someone going into the White House who has convinced the American public that he can come up with a plan to back us away from the abyss, and he has about twenty minutes to do it.

For the better part of a year I read Martin Luther King, Jr. speeches and Malcolm X speeches. I am not in any way an authority on the American Black Experience. I can only imagine what they would be thinking and feeling at this moment. Still, once the euphoria and self congratulations die down, someone has got to stand up and say that Obama is now first, and foremost the President of the United States, and all other roles and titles will take a back seat to that. And he needs to be evaluated and held accountable on that basis. I'm sure that MKL, Malcolm X, and Mr. Obama himself would insist upon no other criteria.