What’s in a name?
See, there’s this race car driver. His name is Dick Trickle.
Is there anybody who has/had a name that generates more uncomfortability? Discuss.
Why Obama can win
Last night, Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses for the Democrats and Huckabee for the Republicans. Some are concerned about Obama’s electability, partly because of his skin color. I think it won’t be much of a problem for the following reasons:
1. He sounds like a white person. He doesn’t come to the podium shouting “Yo, wuzzup home boyz!!!” Noticing the lack of an Ebonics accent, American whites might be able to convince themselves, “Hey, this Obama guy is kinda like me!”
2. He’s a light-skinned black. Think about a lot of the popular black celebrities. Beyonce’s considered hot. Actors like Will Smith and Denzel Washington are popular. Tiger Woods has endorsements out the wazoo (yes, I know he’s more Thai than black; he counts as black in this country). What do they have in common? They could all get into a paper bag party.
Dark-skinned black athletes can squirm into the “popular black” category, but that’s because we don’t have much of a choice of who’s a talented athlete.
Besides, if you squint your eyes and turn your head sideways, you can almost convince yourself Obama’s white.
3. In fact, he’s not even 100% black. His father was a black Kenyan, his mother a white American.
These factors lead me to believe that Obama can help the United States ease into being comfortable with a non-white president.
