by Mark Luedtke

Created on: February 04, 2009

I can't imagine how black Americans must feel about Barack Obama's inauguration. I won't know how black Americans feel when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as the President of the United States. But I have no doubt that moment will be one of the most joyous moments in American history, and I'm going to revel in it.

It's a shame that the greatest debate during this presidential campaign was whether or not America was ready for a black president. Most Americans realized that race wouldn't play a significant factor in a presidential election and that no American would be denied the presidency because of race. But many Americans hadn't realized that yet. Now every American understands that race does not disqualify a candidate from the highest office in the country. In that very real sense, Barack Obama has united the nation, and that can never be taken away from us.

But the Democrat primary provides scary insight into what might happen after inauguration.

The race and gender prejudices that dominate liberal ideology almost ripped the Democrat party apart during the primary. Displaying outrageous disrespect of the black community, writers warned of rioting in the streets if Obama didn't win the nomination. Women threatened to boycott the election if Hillary lost. Supporters of Obama immediately labeled critics as racists and released their media hounds on any non-supporter who even mentioned race, including the first "black president". Democrats were exposed as a fragile, volatile alliance.

Few on the right mentioned race during the regular campaign, but Democrats and their mainstream media attack dogs couldn't quit talking about it and attacking based on it. New York Gov. Patterson accused McCain of playing the race card every time he mentioned Obama's work as a community organizer. Attack dogs blasted anybody who brought up Obama's connections to ACORN or Bill Ayers as racists. Susan Estrich wrote that the only way Obama could lose is because of racism. She wasn't very original. Dozens of similar articles appeared in newspapers.

During the campaign, Obama portrayed himself as the Messiah who would heal the planet and stop the rise of the oceans. The media projected an image that Obama would not only stop the rise of the water, but would walk on it. Peggy Joseph thinks she won't have to work to put gas in her car or pay her mortgage since Obama was elected. Obama and the media set expectations so high that he can't possibly meet them. Now that reality has

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