Unfortunately, this sort of thing is almost inevitably going to happen again. It’s not clear whether this guy wanted to kill Obama based solely on race or whether he was simply a whackadoodle since he apparently also wanted to off W. But there is no doubt at all that there are still unreconstructed racists in this country who will see it as their moral obligation to try and kill a President who is not white. The fact that there are people out there who think this way should not affect anyone’s decision to vote for, or against, this candidate.
While I think Obama would not be a particularly good President in terms of policy and the more I look behind the flash and sizzle and charisma, the less I see there – it remains a fact that he is a young, dynamic, and personally appealing Black man who proudly bears a non-European name. Seeing him be elected President, seeing him be President, would be a great help towards getting past those kinds of social tensions, towards getting America to see itself in a new light and getting the world to see America in a new light. And, let’s face it, the Republic has withstood bad Presidents before; if Obama is elected, we will survive despite whatever bad policies he gets implemented – and he may well put some good ones in place, too. There will always be nutjobs out there who want the notoriety of attacking the President. But hopefully one day we can get past, or at least around, the issue of a man’s race and think more about his integrity, intelligence, and intentions. Obama’s candidacy is a good way to challenge people into moving their thinking forward towards that day.
