Late news, repeated comments, but still wanted to get them down.
John Podhoretz over at Commentary:
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America, it appears, is on the verge of electing a black man as its president. It cannot be gainsaid; the enormity of this single cultural moment dwarfs almost any other in my lifetime. Its positive social impact is incalculable; it was only eight years ago that Al Gore traveled to Harlem to kiss Al Sharpton’s ring, which was only seven years after Sharpton had provoked a riot on 125th street that led to a fire that killed seven people. Sharpton was, at that point, by default the most important black politician in America. Obama’s ascension to the White House, if it does nothing else, may at last bring down the curtain on race hucksters like Sharpton, whose power has always been rooted in the political alienation of inner-city blacks.
We can certainly hope. This next bit just blew my mind. It’s easy to forget that we’re just a few generations out from slavery, poll taxes, and the like. From Rod Dreher:
You have to listen to this NPR report about Amanda Jones, a 109-year-old black Texas woman whose father was an emancipated slave. This living link to slavery never thought she’d see this day. Back in the day, they used to have to pay to vote. “We would pick cotton and save our money” to pay the poll tax, she said.
But we still have work to do:
A University of Texas poll released today of 550 registered voters has one very surprising finding: 23 percent of Texans are convinced that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is a Muslim.
The Obama-is-a-Muslim confusion is caused by fallacious Internet rumors and radio talk-show gossip. McCain went so far at one of his town hall meetings to grab a microphone from a woman who claimed that Obama was an Arab.
The Texas numbers are unusual because most national polls show that just 5 to 10 percent of Americans still believe Obama is a Muslim — less than half the number of Texans who buy into the debunked theories.
I’m not the least bit surprised by this because of the horrible, slanderous, downright untrue e-mail fowards I’ve received by well-meaning Christians. Vett your e-mail forwards, people.
And lastly, an obligatory The Onion Article: Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job.