Congratulations for accomplishments....not race

Reading the editorial titled, "Just Savor the Moment" by Eugene Robinson http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/06/06/0607robinson_edit.html, it is hard for me to say if I agree or disagree with his stance. I will say that he makes some very good points in that Obama has definitely opened the door for minorities to truly enter the political arena on the grandest of scales. The problem that I DO have with his editorial is that he chooses to focus on the wrong thing. It seems that Mr. Robinson only wants to focus on the fact that after "389 years of history" people of the same skin tone as his have finally made it. Nowhere in his article is applause to Mr. Obama's political stances nor his skillful debating or any other number of positives that the senator has in his favor. The best that he could come up with is his ability to gather lots of money for his campaign and that he is black. The true praise that he does give is more directed towards the young supporters of Mr. Obama that have used devices such as MySpace and Facebook to entice more voters.
I am not that naive to think that that the best man always gets the job but that is what I think everyone strives for. There have been many people in the past that that has not been true for, black AND white. That is why I believe that Barack Obama should be held up and congratulated not because he is a black person who won the day, but because he is the BEST person who won the day. The fact that he is African American, makes no difference to me. He could be of any ethnic origin and I still would have voted for him if I agreed with him. Mr. Richardson gives a quick reference, so as not to get to over his head, to the fact that the "promised land" will be a place where race does not matter but unfortunately overshadows this statement at the end with yet another counting of the years since slavery began.
The fate of the next four to eight years of our beloved country is going to be largely in the hands of the man that we elect this year. I truly believe that it does not matter the skin tone, or sex for that matter, of the person that is steering the ship, just as long as that person steers it true. Slavery was an awful thing and thank God that it no longer exists, but that is an argument that should not be brought into this arena. I would not be surprised if Mr. Obama thought this way as well. Leaders do not dwell on the past but look upon it as a compass in order to guide them in the future. If Obama is a true leader that deserves to win the presidency he will do exactly that.