by Ron Clements

Created on: November 05, 2008   Last Updated: October 06, 2010

The election of Barack Obama as our 44th president makes me a little sad. Not that the well-spoken Obama isn't a deserving candidate and not because it's an historic election.

What gets me down is that the 2008 election will now be remembered more for race than it will the candidates and what they stood for. Obama ran a campaign focused on change. Soon people will forget what those changes are supposed to be. Instead they will focus on his historic achievement as the nation's first black president.

I also dread hearing the term "African-American" about a hundred times a day for the next three months. I am not a German-American or an Italian-American. I've never been to Germany or Italy. I was born in Texas and grew up in Wisconsin. I am an American - and a white guy to boot.

I had an English professor in college who was about as bleeding-heart liberal as they come. She also loathed the term African-American. She said, "If I'm white, then you're black. They're both colors." I couldn't agree more, and neither could Whoopee Goldberg a few years ago when she said she despises the term as well, saying, "I'm black. I've never even been to Africa."

That's kind of off-topic, but also relevant. Media outlets will force their viewers, listeners and readers away from the campaign issues and focus on Obama's race. They'll insist on putting his election into historical context, each day trying to put a different spin on it, but essentially saying the same thing.

What will be lost in the shuffle are the campaign platforms of both Obama and John McCain. Both men had designs to end our dependency on foreign oil, with alternative energy plans in place. Both men talked about change, eventually cleaning up the mess in Iraq and getting back to the fulltime search for Osama bin Laden.

While Obama puts together his cabinet, we can only pray that the Obama camp doesn't start to believe its own hype. Do the interviews, but don't listen to the criticism or the praise. Stay the course and follow through with the plan.

The rest of us need to prepare to be inundated with the term African-American by liberal media outlets such as MSNBC and the New York Times. Be prepared to be reminded countless times that Obama is our first black president. Be prepared to hear repeatedly how Nov. 4, 2008 will be forever remembered for its historic achievement, not that we need any reminding.

While the Democrats cheer for their candidate with the slogans, "Change we need," and "Hope has arrived," let's just hope they remember what those changes are supposed to be and that Obama is just as good of a leader as he is a speaker.

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