Obambies

I was talking with Stephen (an Obama-ite) at work today about how the pres-elect's followers are just that. They follow him around agreeing with anything he says, like a bunch of zombies. Instead of chanting "BRAAAAINS!!!" like regular zombies they say, "Thiiisss isss an hissstorrric mommmennnnt." (Historic, I assume, based on the color of his skin rather than the content of his character or his policies..... Dream on, MLK.)
So then I imagine Obama telling his zombies to shut up and give him their money so he can spend it on government programs, and they say "But weeee donnnnn't havvve any monnnnney lefffft."
To which he replies, "That's okay, we'll just borrow it. You can pay it back later. Or your kids can. Grandkids too, morelike. But one thing's for sure, I'm gunna spend it!" And the zombies say, "Ohhh-kayyyy. Whaaaat a greaaaaaat day forrrr ourrr naaationnnnn."

Somewhere during that, I decided that the Obama zombies should be called "Obambies". But before writing this post I decided to Google that word to see if I was, in fact, the first to utter it. Ha! I was surprised to find out that I'm probably just the most recent. What does a guy have to do to come up with a new word these days?

Racism Plays A Part

Is Barack Obama black?
Who should care if he is? Reading this Newsweek article, you would think that it was written in the 1960's if you judge it only by the amount of racism in it. Set aside the fact that a black man is running for president and has a good chance of winning. That wouldn't have happened in the 60's.

When someone starts singing the praises of one race over another (any race), MLK's "Dream" speech comes immediately to my mind: "...judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Some might think that he only meant that in the context of black skin being a liability. But if you're judging Barack Obama to be the best candidate for president based on the color of his skin and not on the content of his character, then you are promoting racism as surely as those you would call racist. This post is no rip on Obama, he seems to be a man of some character. But whatever happened to our goal of a color-blind society? Is Barack Obama a black man? Or is he just a man? Your answer to that question might reveal something to you about yourself.

1st Black Super Bowl Referee

This Sunday Mike Carey will become the first black referee in NFL Super Bowl history.
Who cares? Isn't he just a man? We ought to judge people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have absolutely nothing against Mike Carey. Shoot, I don't even know him. He may be a real stand-up guy. In fact, to go 18 years as an NFL official I think he probably is a man of character (all "ref" jokes aside). Good for him! But who cares what color his skin is? It seems demeaning to look at his accomplishments over the past 18 years and rather than say, "The man has earned a spot in the Big Game." to reduce his career to color. "Oh look! The black man did something good!"

I wish we could just say, "The man did something good." without noticing the color of his skin. That'll be progress.