There is a guy named Barack Obama who is running for senator in Illinois. He is a Democrat. The incumbent senator he was running against, Jack Ryan, has had to withdraw from the race based on info released in his divorce decree, obtained by the Chicago Tribune. Freedom of Information Act, you know. But that's another journal entry. :)

Anyway, this interests me because Obama has become an immediate celebrity here in the Midwest and people are talking about him a lot. An interview I read online included the following:

"The expectations of him will be great," The Rev. Jesse Jackson added. "He immediately would become the highest-ranking African-American political official in the country and in a lily-white Senate, and therefore people of color and workers from around the world will be watching his every move, every vote he takes."

Outside of the fact that I have issues with the good Reverend, he is incorrect on two counts. First, wouldn't Colin Powell be the highest-ranking political official in the country? I would think Secretary of State ranks higher than "freshman senator from Illinois."

Second, what interests me about Obama is the fact that he is not African-American. He is a mulatto, which Webster's tells me is a child of a black and white parent. Obama's father is from Kenya; his mother hails from Kansas. So here's another thought-provoking question on race in America - how come you're considered African-American, and must "answer" to the black race, if you're only half black? That hearkens back to the ol' days when if you were even 1/16th black, you were considered "all black." Hmm.

Lastly, I feel another sentence in the article needs addressing. Some other guy mentioned that "...some black people will expect him to speak to their frustrations rather than address the cause of their frustrations. ... And blacks will be unreasonably hard on him when he is successful."

Amen to that. You want a brother to succeed to speak for your concerns, but then decry him when he does. So I will be watching this with interest to see what happens. Illinois is an interesting place.

Oh yeah, last sidenote - on NPR they were talking about our Governor Granholm, and mentioned that many in the Democratic party find her to be a "great natural leader, and one to watch in the future." Uh, do your homework boys... she can't be one particular leader, anyway. She was born in Canada. So even if the adoption law goes through (where children adopted to parents under the age of 18 can run for president), she STILL won't be able to be your president. Thank goodness.

But I have no doubt she's establishing a committee to look into it.