Is the US ready for an African American president?

This Blog a requirement for Urban Lobbying II- Politics and the Media and is written by Dennis Beyer

An interresting subject came up during one of the speaker's presentations last week in my Urban Lobbying class, Lincoln Ware (a local radio personality) was asked the very question that is my subject: In the US ready for an African American President?

From Mr. Ware, being an African American, I had expected the obvious answer of yes, of course. Imagine my surprise when he said no. He didn't think as a nation the US is ready for a president that is not a white person, essentially saying that the very person he supports to be president was not going to win the election. When asked when he thought the nation would be ready his reply was fairly simple (I'm paraphrasing here of course), that when race could be left out of campaigns completely, then the nation would be ready.

I agreed with a lot of what Mr. Ware had to say, obviously not all, but I don't agree with everything that either major political party thinks. So, it kind of sent me on some evaluation of where I think things are headed. We are supposed to be one of the most progressive nations on the face of the planet. How is it that we've never had any leader for our nation that wasn't white and male? What comes into my mind was mentioned in class. We can never know if we are ready if we don't try. It's rather obvious that at least some of the nation is ready, the man is kicking some major butt on the campaign trail. I think in the least this is a step in the right direction, if people of "minorities" continue to make the run for president, maybe things will happen sooner than Mr. Ware had imagined.

So to set my opinion in black and white, yes, I do think that the nation is ready for an African American President. If we're supposed to be one of the most progressive nations on earth, let's prove it. Let's show that we can set our prejudice aside and simply elect the best person for the position, if that happens to be Obama then so be it, skin color, sex, sexual preferance, religious background, whatever has no place in it.

So for the few readers that I have: Is the United States ready for a African American President? Why or why not?