Hillary is a Bitch and Obama is Muslim!!!

I wish there was an easy way to talk about this but there is not. I also wish I could say it in a funny and tongue in cheek way, but I cannot. The fact is that politics is frustrating and I have never seen it as passionate as I have this time around. I have watched otherwise rational people say things that are downright offensive about Hillary Clinton and others make up lies altogether about Barack Obama. And for some strange reason I am caught in the middle. I am a Clinton supporter who happens to be Black. Weird huh? Well, apparently it is.

It is weird that I do not blithely accept that because Barack Obama is black that I should vote for him. Or because Bill Clinton states fact he is a racist. Weird huh? I mean I forgot that we Blacks are monolithic and we do everything we are told to do in our weekly black conference calls.

I think my favorite thing is that I am seen as a turncoat, an OREO, a wannabe, a this or a that. That otherwise rational educated people tell me that I am a disgrace because I am not supporting Obama. I ask them, what about him is so great? Then of course I get the boilerplate. I guess it is like when I was in high school and because I spoke the way I speak I got ridiculed or maybe it is because I am often told I am not “black-enough” by people who are apparently “black-enough” to be able to judge my relative hue. Trust me I am black enough.

· I am black enough to know that if my neighborhood or my car is a little too nice I am likely to be stopped for some BS reason, not because I am paranoid, but because it has happened multiple times.

· I am black enough to know that my work is oft times review and re-reviewed when it seems “too good”

· I am black enough to know that my community would rather turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to my sexuality than accept me with open arms

· I am black enough to know that my money is more welcome than my presence in some retailers

So maybe I am just taking it all out of context. Maybe Rev. Wright represents that monolithic Black Church, much like Pat Robertson represents the white church. Or maybe it is “out of context” when I directly quote polls that show that white voters favor Clinton over Obama, I guess then I am racist. I hate to say it but I can say many things that my white colleagues cannot. I can effortlessly use the “n” word or I can call someone racist without much thought to it; but what I cannot do is get “it”. That “it” is why not liking Obama makes me less black than the people who choose to paint me that way. I am a Blue Dog Raegan Democrat and truth be told I would vote Republican just as easily I as I would Democrat. But I vote for who can do the job, not who I like the most. I am not anyone’s cheer leader but I am this, I am a person who respects and appreciates hard work over popularity. Substance over finger pointing, I don’t care how history reads Bush-Clinton-Bush- Clinton (or Obama (or even McCain)) I just need for it to be a real history; one of work not words.

But because I am not supporter the “brother” I am not (yet again) good enough. But I was good enough when I supported a community that often shut me out or when I help Katrina victims. Honestly though, this isn’t about me. It is about us and what we allow ourselves to become. We allow ourselves to discount 30 years of civil rights work as “calculating”; we allow ourselves to over rate words and under rate experience because someone is like “us”, or we just “like” them more.

Now don’t get my words mixed up. I like Barack Obama, I just think Hillary Clinton can do a better job. Notice I did not say I liked her more. I don’t vote and/or hire people I like. I reserve that for having beers. If I cast a ballot for you I expect you to answer the hard questions and stand up for something more than a platitude. So if that makes me not black, let it be what it is. I just am tired of the ire associated with not being an Obama supporter, I mean squint and suck your teeth at someone else, we have 2 great candidates either of which will do well, but apparently it is only cool to not like one of them, never mind the fact that the real opponent is John McCain. And to those of you who do not talk to me anymore because I support Clinton, one word "REALLY?"

So I can endure the people squinting at me and sucking their teeth for a few weeks more until we have a Democratic nominee, but please stop preaching to me because I am not in the choir.