A Sense of History

A few days ago, Barack Obama won Iowa. People were surprised. I was surprised too, though not necessarily for the same reasons "people" were. What surprised me more was that it took rather a long time for the media to note what an historic achievement that win was. Hilary's third place was also an historic achievement. The media pretty much missed that. We've just been sitting through it for so long we've lost the sense of it. A black man and a woman; it's easy to lose sight of just how amazing an achievement that is. Today my daughter came home from a "family party" at a friend's and said that some members of the friend's family declared that they would move to Canada if a black man became president. While we smiled and declared it was devoutly to be hoped, it's easy to forget that these attitudes still exist. Unlike Mitt, I will not lie and say that I saw my father march with Martin Luther King but I remember seeing those marches on TV, the black and white images on the screen of Selma and Chicago and Washington. I remember the dogs and the firehoses and the uniforms and nightsticks. I remember seeing the perfectly reputable-looking marchers, men in suits and women in hats and gloves with nice purses and wondering what all the fuss was about. A child only sees what's there I guess. And there was an awful fuss, for years and years. And lest we forget, there was bloodshed, plenty of that too. And now, Barack Obama wins Ohio and there's not so much fuss. Could it be that we are judging this man by the content of his character? That would be something, wouldn't it?