One of the fascinating things about this presidential election is the personal issues each candidate brings up for national debate:

McCain brings a debate about the invasion of Iraq and "security".

Hillary brings up the topic of gender and the roles of men and women in marriage.

Obama brings up race.

All three are important topics but are we mature enough as a country to discuss any of them? So far it looks like the answer is no.

I was particularly disappointed by the Obama and Geraldine Ferraro flap this week. Ferraro commented that the main reason Obama is a presidential candidate is because he looks black? Well, duh! There is no question that is true.

But instead of talking about race in America, Obama cries racism?? I guess he wants it both ways. Vote for him because he is the first African American presidential candidate but if you bring up the fact that being black is the main reason he galvanizes support as a presidential candidate well then he cries racism. I call that twisted. I call that part of the problem not part of the solution.

Obama's apparent race may not be why you are voting for him but it is why he has enough of a power base to run on a presidential level. There should be no question that many people see the man and vote for or against him without knowing much else about him. Part of his appeal is that few people know anything about him, he is an empty vessel that we can fill with our hopes and dreams and as with any lesser known candidate, first impressions are very significant.

If Obama looked like his white mother and not his African father, would he be a presidential candidate? Why would the black communities of south chicago have elected a white guy from Hawaii to represent them? Obama grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia; what does he know about the stereotypical black american experience in Chicago or Detroit or the southern black experience in Alabama and Louisiana? If Obama did not look black, there is no way he would have been elected to represent Illinois, he would not have galvanized the support of the African American political machine, and he would not be a Presidential candidate today.

On the other hand, if he looked white he very well may have been elected to be the Senator of his home state, Hawaii. He is very intelligent and people like what he has to say and he is clearly ambitious. But has there ever been a Hawaiian presidential candidate? Nope. If Obama was just another white politician with an Ivy League education representing a small state, he would not be a contender. He would be a Kucinich, a Nader, an also-ran.

Obama is a contender because of his skin color and the fact that his race resonates with a powerful political constituency, 10% of Americans. But there is nothing wrong with that. And it is not racist to bring it up. If anything race should be a major campaign issue because it is a central issue for our country, affecting social policy and immigration and national identity.

Obama is an exciting candidate because he is mixed race. In other words, he is like most Americans and he could talk about that issue in ways most people cannot because he has such a unique history. But he clearly does not want to talk about it. It is also clear that we Americans are not ready to discuss the fucked up feelings and biases we have about race.

More is the pity. I guess the task is left to Steven Colbert to create a color-blind America...