Something interesting I learned today on the phone with one of my sisters.

[Berry Cool]

You'll all laugh at this, but maybe it's actually a telling revelation.

We had a political discussion. She's like me in many ways: generally distrustful of politicians, always considered herself an independent voter. She now gets the majority of her political information from watching Stephen Colbert (whom she loves) and the occasional Keith.

We were discussing Obama and talking about the kind of image he projects, and she said "The only thing that bothers me about him is the Muslim thing."

I told her the facts. Said his mother was an atheist, but not one who believed there was no value in religion, that indeed she felt her son should know about the various religious faiths. That he joined a Christian church as a young adult after having educated himself on the panoply of beliefs.

Then I found out something else interesting.

She didn't know his mother was white.

Nope. Had no idea.

It may sound funny, but I think this went a long way toward making him less convincing as an extremist of any kind--religious or racial. How can he have a problem with white people when his mother was one? Same for Michelle--if she really had a problem with white people, she could have married a 100% AA man. She chose not to. Must've been a reason.

I think my sister is in many ways exemplary of what Obama is working with in Ohio and other states like it. She's white, female, only high school educated, but she's not dumb. Her concerns are the same as those of most people here: How can I have a better life? Why does it seem I never get ahead but the rich keep getting richer? How come I pay my taxes, but the rich get their taxes cut, and everything goes to shit because of it? Why am I paying $4 a gallon for gas? And what can someone who wants to be President do about it?

She looked at Obama as an attractive, appealing guy. But she needed to be reassured on a few things. And one of them was, no, he doesn't have any beef with white people, he's half one himself. The other was, he's not really a Muslim radical, is he? Just wanna make sure. And mind you, she's a person who sees nothing wrong per se with being a Muslim, so long as you don't want to go out and kill people. She's equally against Christians who want to kill in the name of Jesus, or anyone else using their religion as an excuse for killing.

Once she knew these facts, I think she came away with a more positive impression of him. And she knows McCain isn't going to do a damn thing to help her. So there you have it.

I was looking last night at the ad Obama has out that is now running in Ohio and some other key states. I noticed that one of the images in it is an old picture of him as a child with his mother, and there's another with his white grandparents. I thought it was interesting that his campaign used these, and boy, was it a smart move.

Sure, we've still got some very bigoted people here who are still horrified by the very idea of what they still call "miscegenation." But those people are so bigoted they wouldn't vote for Obama anyway unless he went swimming in a tub of bleach. Might as well just write them off.

It's the other ones who can be reached--the ones for whom knowing he is part white makes it difficult to see him as a guy who's only going to be a "black" President or only care about black people. The ones for whom knowing he was educated about many religions and chose one as an adult makes them regard him as more thoughtful because of it. And yeah, his mother was from the Midwest! The Midwest, I tell you! From Kansas, like Dorothy! Only she wasn't so narrow-minded and provincial that she could only associate with, or love, people exactly like herself. She was an adventurous soul. Good for her.

Yeah, I know it's catering to white fears and anxieties and reassuring them, when blacks have never received the same kind of comforting and catering while always being forced to accept white men as their President. But a smart candidate will realize: You don't scold people for not being at the place they should be. You hit them where they live.

I think Obama's going to win Ohio and win it big. And if he does, it will be not just because we probably would have voted for anyone but a Republican, but in part because he's been successful in countering any attempt to make him into a Scary Black Guy. Once people know more about him, it just won't fly.

[DeepModem Mom]

1. I thought the SAME thing when I saw those first images in the first GE ad.

Obama with his white mother, and then with those wonderful (white) Kansas grandparents. I had to tell a close friend that Obama only saw his father during one brief visit because he had in his head that Obama's Muslim father educated him in a Madrassah. The father was absent! We can think of this in terms of racism, but what we are dealing with here is facts. The Obama campaign, and Obama himself, obviously want facts out there -- not stuff people see in e-mails forwarded to them.

I've worked on campaigns, and I believe in the old saw, "First, you have to get elected." Not to the point of Rove and Swiftboating and character assassination -- but, to that point, do what you have to do to get elected, and then try and do some good with the office.

How I wish we were more aware, educated, and prejudice-free as a country, but we're not. (Indeed, no country is. I lived in Britain a few years, and I love the Brits, but many of them would say things with regard to race that are not said anymore here in polite company.) You deal with the electorate you have, and try to get a candidate elected.

I think your post is right on.

[Berry Cool]

2. Yeah. What I'm trying to say is, not everyone here who has qualms is like that guy

in the Hillary profile on 60 MInutes. You know, the one from Chillicothe, who said that he kind of liked Obama, but he heard that he was a Muslim and didn't seem inclined to change his mind when told he wasn't.

I think there are people out there who can be educated, who have heard the rumors and don't know what to believe, who if they are told the truth, who if they find out more, can set aside any anxieties and fears they may have.

You won't change the hardcore racists and you won't persuade the idiots. But the people who have brains and use them...regardless of skin color, education or worldly experience...you can work with them. I think there's enough of them in Ohio to win.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. I think you're right. My friend saw things differently when he knew the facts. And...

I'd love see us win Ohio!