Reply #40: Well her endorsement

[JustAnotherGen]

Doesn't bother me one way or the other. I made my decision over a year ago . . . actually two days after the election in 2004 when I realized that in the face of a 'fake defeat' the President probably wouldn't run again - but the VP was full of piss and vinegar and probably would.

Now I have to say, when I look at Obama I feel like I'm looking at my brother, my cousins, myself. I do relate to him and his experiences that brought him to where he is at in life - with the exception that my father was very present in my life. So I did fully get the benefit of Both Worlds. What I don't relate to however was his throwing out the "Top 6% of earners who make over 96K a year" piece in the last debate. I'm in that number. So is Oprah.

But she makes like a gazillion times more than I do. The reality that Obama's supporters have got to accept that just because he is in the 'Elite' (read Lawrence Otis Graham's books to understand the 'Elite') - doesn't mean the others in the 'Elite' are just going to roll and bounce with his campaign. The whole point (I thought) was that the color of our skin did not matter - take your opportunities, run with them, hold your head high and expect to be treated with dignity . . . because you deserve to be treated with dignity as Human Being. Not as black/white/asian etc. etc.

The very mindset he has - is my mindset. So he and Oprah and her fellow black celebrities cannot just 'depend' on us. It's not about the color of his skin. All skin is the color of water - eh? It's about the Values and the Win. I'm doing just what she and he are asking me to do - and that is to ignore the color of his skin.

From a Values perspective - Just because some folks at DU would refer to me as a Corporate Sell Out - does NOT mean I am. My values come from where my grandparents and their parents came. It comes not only from being a descendent of slaves, but also of being the descendent of Irish, German and French immigrants. These people were not well educated in today's sense. But they worked hard. They worked hard and they were able to put a roof over their heads, food on the table, clothes on their children's backs, put some money aside for emergencies - AND - retire and enjoy their old age.

You know - my values still lay with that segment of people in our country - but you know what? They can't save? They barely have a roof over their heads. Their salaries (if they have a job) barely is enough to make ends meets.

Obama is not talking enough about these folks - and neither is Oprah. And even though I'm one of those Corporate Sell Outs - I'm still a smart person. I've done silly things in my life, like - oh read a book or two. And in those books I can read about the French Revolution. It was a Revolution of the Middle Class.

I think John Edwards gets this - and I think Barack Obama does too. But Obama isn't saying it. When Obama throws his hat in the ring for the poorest of the poor to our struggling middle class - I'll get behind him.

But until he does? My rich, bi-racial, female ass is sticking with Edwards - regardless of what Oprah in her ivory tower says or does on his behalf. *sniff*