by Charley James (and friends)
Thanks to my friends Mike and Micheline who teach in Guangzhou for sending this me today.

What if…
things were switched around? Think about it: Would the country’s collective point of view be different? How much does racism influence our opinions? Ponder the following: 

What if…
the Obama?s had paraded five children across the stage, including a three-month-old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter? 

What if…
John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review, while Barack Obama finished fourth from the bottom of his graduating class? 

What if…
McCain had only married once and Obama was a divorcee? 

What if…
Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married? 

What if…
Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards? 

What if…
Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? 

What if…
Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?  

What if…
Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Five were the United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the largest Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.) 

What if…
McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker while Obama couldn’t read from a teleprompter? 

What if…
Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing four planes? 

What if…
Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem? 

What if…
Michelle Obama’s family had made their money from beer distribution? 

What if…
the Obama’s had adopted a white child? 

You could easily add to this list.

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are? Would a black McCain even be allowed to be a politician much less a potential leader of our country? 

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference. 
 

Comparative Educational Background: 
Barack Obama: Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations. Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude, president of the Law Review 

Joseph Biden:  University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science. Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.) 

vs. 

John McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899 

Sarah Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester; North Idaho College - 2 semesters, general study; University of Idaho - 2 semesters, journalism; Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester; University of Idaho - 3 semesters, B.A. in Journalism 

Education isn’t everything, of course, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. Shouldn?t our presidents have a proper education that taught them how to think and use good judgment when considering important issues, or is having the right connections with lobbyists and special interest groups sufficient? 

You decide.