"... one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character"

Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, white, black, brown, red or yellow, as an American you had to feel proud last night. To see that as a country we have come to a point that one of the two mainstream political parties would nominate an African-American person for the office of the Presidency of the United States of America was a big step.  Whether you think Barack Obama is good or bad, whether you vote for him or not, what he has accomplished within one lifetime of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech is truly amazing. Similar to what he said last night, it is not just about him either.  It is about us as a country as well.  Our country has grown enough where truly the color of a persons skin is not the determining factor on what a person can accomplish. I am not naive. I know that there are still people in this country who are going to decide to support Obama or not strictly on the color of his skin.  For those people I feel sorry. Support or don't support Obama because you think he is or is not the right person for the job, but not because of the color of his skin. 

I was reminded exactly what a huge step this was in reading Adam's Emergent Chaos blog today.  He has republished the testimony of a woman to the credentials committee of the 1964 Democratic national convention.  I don't want to reprint the whole thing, so please click here and than hit back on your browser when you are done.

Back already? What do you think?  Can you believe that this horrific story was just over 40 years ago.  Not to brag about my age, but I was alive when this happened.  I remember being bussed to a different neighborhood for school.  There were race riots in 1968.  Can this be the same country? 

And now we have a woman as the VP candidate for the Republicans.  This is probably almost 20 years after Geraldine Ferraro ran for the Democrats, but is nevertheless quite a milestone. 

Whomever you vote for this election day, it is a proud day to be an American and that old adage of anyone can grow up to be President is truer than ever!