[gaijin]

The man went to the richest private school in HONOLULU, for crying out loud! And there are signs he's a MUSLIM at a time when many muslims swear to kill or convert all non-muslims.

HE IS NOT BLACK.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Interesting point. Republicans would be crucified for making the point -- not worth the cost in this case -- but it is interesting. Considering the Dems tried to sell us on the idea that Bill Clinton was the first black president, I am quite sure they won't care that Obama has a white mother and a black father from Kenya -- no American slave heritage.

[domenad]

Yes, that's right. People INSTINCTIVELY knew Obama was Kenyan, so they treated him a million times better than a typical Compton thug. This Crouch is an idiot, and his column is written for idiots.

[100-Fold_Return]

With Mrs. Clinton an absolute dud, the dims have to reach back to their past with old, old African-Americans.

[nativist]

and the United States had enslaved people of African descent for nearly 250 years.

The United States had legalized slavery for about 90 years. In those 90 years there was tremendous amount of turmoil over it and its relation to what the Founders had envisioned. It eventually ended up in a civil war where 500,000 white people died fighting over it.

The British colony's of course had slaves before the America won its independence from them. If Britain had wanted it banned from the colonies it could have done so.

[Fighting Irish]

Amazes me why Barak Obama is called African American

Here with his mother, Ann Durham

[LexBaird]

Europe, after all, had colonized much of the black world, and the United States had enslaved people of African descent for nearly 250 years.

Suffice it to say: This is no longer the case.

Seeing as how the United States haven't been around 250 years yet, let alone in the 19th C., suffice to say it was NEVER the case.

[hosepipe]

Hope can anybody with a white(or even latino) parent(mother or father) call themselves BLACK?.. Unless they want to parasitize the affirmative action delusion.. You know, ALL are equal but some are a little more equal than others..

America is generally on this subject so confused.. This might be a worldwide delusion.. The scope of it is awesome..

An entire planet deluded..

[D.P.Roberts]

NOKD

Not Our Kind, Dear.

[MSSC6644]

That race was never much of a contest, but one fascinating subplot was how Keyes was unable to draw a meaningful distinction between himself as a black American and Obama as an African-American. After all, Obama's mother is of white U.S. stock. His father is a black Kenyan. Other than color, Obama did not - does not - share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves.

From an interview by Steve Malzberg in 2004 of Alan Keyes:

". . . Barack Obama and I are of the same race, but we are not of the same heritage. And there is a distinction. Race is something physical. Heritage is something that may have an element that is physical or biological, but that also includes other elements of history and experience--the kinds of things that have helped to shape the mind and heart of an individual and that are not determined by physics and biology. And we are of different heritages. I'm of a slave heritage, and he is not. I have wrestled all my life with the reality of the injustices done to my ancestors, and it has been deeply important to me. It's influenced fundamental choices that I have made in life, things I take seriously, things I am still, to this day, preoccupied with, like the question of justice and liberty. So, I think it makes a tremendous difference, and if we just look at it with racial blinders on, we will miss the fact that these are two people of the same race, but they are not two people of the same heritage."

I believe Keyes made this point a number of times during that campaign.

[sitetest]

"(Stanley Crouch Eats His Own)"

That's just the point. Mr. Crouch doesn't consider Mr. Obama to be one of "his own."

I think he makes a good case.

[cynwoody]

Obama is being greeted with the same kind of public affection that Colin Powell had when he seemed ready to knock Bill Clinton out of the Oval Office. For many reasons, most of them personal, Powell did not become the first black American to be a serious presidential contender.

Powell's parents were immigrants from Jamaica.

[RonF]

The choice of Keyes was either a Republican version of affirmative action or an example of just how dumb the party believes black voters to be, since it was obvious that Keyes came from the Southeast, not the Midwest.

Wrong on both counts. The author is guilty of not doing his homework, but instead projection his own presumptions. Keyes was selected because the Illinois Reflublican party's moderates, having blown the entire election and having seen their own candidate go down in flames in a sex scandal, decided to turn the selection of the party's senatorial candidate over to the rightmost part of their party they could find in order to discredit them when they lost. Said group, being nuts, promptly fulfilled this expectation.

It was all local politics and had nothing to do with the national Republican party, who would have done anything to prevent it.

[NotchJohnson]

Didn't Keyes call tell the voters "you just elected the next Hitler" after Barack won? I love Keyes and he is a brilliant man. I trust his opinion on him. The link about Obama says he is just to the left of Moa. The media can cover for any democrat very well and an occasional John McCain. If they have their way he will be the next president. I say this because losers like AlGore and Kerry almost won and they have no business running. The GOP better have their first string in.

[durasell]

Hands off the Stanster -- when he isn't writing about jazz, the man makes a lot of sense.

[sjack23]

Barack Obama is not African American he is African Arab. He is not the descendant of slaves but instead the descendant of slave owners. Not to mention he lacks experience and is an empty suit. I think we - the democrats - missed our chance with Hillary Clinton. Barack’s fame and poor relationships and judgment are going to keep coming out and eating away his lead. In all actuality I do not feel he is sufficient to be the first “black” president. If he falls on his face it will just be more difficult for the next real black president to get elected...Keep in mind he was only in the Senate for 145 days before deciding to peruse the presidency. That means he has had only 145 days of executive branch experience.