Who is making race an issue?

---by Micheal

The Obama camp has been quick and almost shrill in trying to decry any perceived hint of race becoming an issue. Race, they are quick to preach, should never be brought into the campaign. That belongs to the bad old days, not today.

Lofty sentiments, to be sure, and I could agree with them thus far. The candidates should be judged by who they are inside, who they are positionally and by their character. Skin color should not be how one selects a president.

Lofty, but it just ain't happenin'. All over the press as the Democratic Convention played out, were signs, posters and buttons announcing how wonderful it was that Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream was coming true. How great it was that a black man was (in the Democratic optimism) going to become president.

But this is all judging him by his skin. Just because he's got semi-black skin, he's a wonderful thing? Obama was never part of the grand old Civil Rights Movement culture. Early critics of him (such as Rev. Jackson) were quick to point out that Obama really wasn't "one of them." He grew up in an entirely different culture than the group who struggled through 50s and 60s in the south, segregation, bussing and "Jail no bail". Obama is not one of King's fellow protesters. He was too late, and waaaay outside of that orbit.

The only connection Obama has to the MLK and Civil Rights culture is the color of his skin. Yet, this is EXACTLY what the teary-eyed Democrats are so proud of. He's got black skin. Isn't that wonderful?

Make no mistake. Race is already being made an issue -- by the Democrats. The unstated rule is: you can make race an issue, only if it favors the black man. (Even though double-standards are supposed to be wrong.)