A Commentary on Race, Politics, and History

Michael Gershon of the Washington Post has written a lovely little piece that you ought to read. I give you a blurb on his being both an Obama-skeptic and yet appreciative of the historical overtones of the election:

This presidency in particular should be a source of pride even for those who do not share its priorities. An African American will take the oath of office blocks from where slaves were once housed in pens and sold for profit. He will sleep in a house built in part by slave labor, near the room where Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation with firm hand. He will host dinners where Teddy Roosevelt in 1901 entertained the first African American to be a formal dinner guest in the White House; command a military that was not officially integrated until 1948. Every event, every act, will complete a cycle of history. It will be the most dramatic possible demonstration that the promise of America -- so long deferred -- is not a lie.

I suspect I will have many substantive criticisms of the new administration, beginning soon enough. Today I have only one message for Barack Obama, who will be our president, my president: Hail to the chief.

Indeed, indeed.

Now, since I am evil (and you know that I am), I cannot help but point out: Lincoln and TR were members of which politician party? I'm just sayin', is all.