While I have never tried to hide my political leanings, I have tried to keep them out of this blog to a large extent. But something happened yesterday that really, really bothers me, and I just have to talk about it.

First, a little background. For what seems like centuries, I have been getting wild emails and hearing ridiculous stories about Barack Obama, and these over-the-top stories are being used as the rationale to vote for McCain. This is not meant to imply that there are no valid reasons for preferring McCain; of course there are. But when people start talking about Obama being the head of a sleeper cell, or something equally as ridiculous, the only conclusion I can make is that the bottom line is racism, plain and simple. I have made a lot of people squirm by commenting that I know I'm voting for Obama, I just haven't decided if I'll vote for his black half or his white half. And I have begun to think I would respect people more if they simply came out and said they will not vote for a black man because of his race.

I was talking to one of my neighbors, a woman who was born in an Asian country. She and her husband lived in Louisiana for a couple of years, and she has told me how much prejudice she encountered there, and how much it hurt. So imagine my surprise when she said "If it weren't for the economy, Obama wouldn't even be running. Everyone knows blacks can't run things."

If you are discriminated against, and then want to discriminate against others, what does that make you? Is it only racism when it's someone else's point of view? She came as close as anyone has to admitting her real reason for being against Obama, and you know what? -- I don't respect her more, after all.