The Issue of Race

      Barack Obama won the debate last night hands down. He was cool under constant attack, diastortions , outright lies and even questioning of his patriotism by McCain. McCaim was clearly desperate and his too frequent references to " my friends " , and beating the drum of his service and his failure to offer any concrete ( except the plan to buy up mortgages ) plans to deal with the economic meltdown, was evident. He was a soorry figure and could not match the vibrancy and intellectual vigour of Obama. 

       Obama should be 20 points ahead in the polls. The race should be over. The reason he is not so far ahead and the reason why the race is not over is RACE. Last night on CNN, David Gergen, Republican and CNN consultant stated as much when he said that the race is not over because " Obama is black ". He went on to say that "polls were not believable "  People lie to pollsters on this question of race as a factor and he went on to sa that  "  as much as 6% of support was lost because of his  blackness ".

      Social fibbing ( people not truly responding ), has always been a factor in polling, but in America the issue of race is deeplyand negatively felt by many. Will this be the crucial factor in November? Yes. How can it be offset? By more open minded people  speaking out about  it and if they support Obama, they should turn out in great numbers and vote. Make sure the hatemongers do not deal a ruinous blow to the U.S.A. and its chance to get a leader whio is supremely qualified . The media must stop pretending that race is not an issue. They must stop pussyfooting around this fact. It needs to be latd bare. It needs to be addressed. America must be mature and once and for all get rid of this millstone or America will never realise its full potential. Leadership must be based on Character and Competence, on Integrity and Intellect , not on shallowness, not on ignorance masquerading as knowledge, not on the politics of personality and style  but on substance  and expertise. This is necessary now, more than ever.