The 44th

[zen_shooter]

My sister called my cell phone about four minutes after Senator Barack Obama was declared the 44th President of the United States, while the people I was with in the gorgeous but sparsely furnished Orlando apartment of an Electronic Arts programmer who was throwing an election party were dancing and singing in victory, and chastising me for my

Comments

[may_dryad]

The reason it matters that Obama is black is that the black community is not in the best shape, and regardless of the long list of things we might blame for that, part of changing it has to come from within the African-American community itself. So not only is it OK for our leaders to be smart again, it's OK for black men to be smart. He's just one mixed race guy, yes, but he's a powerful symbol.

I keep thinking of Joseph Campbell: "If you want to change the world, change the metaphor." We just did.