We still have a long way to go.

I have an uneasy feeling about the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party. I don't trust 'em. In large part because I sense that deep down, they are racists. They believe in white supremacy. They hate Barack Obama. Not because he's a liberal. But because he's black. They can't stand that a black man has ascended to the presidency. Some of the loonies would even like to see him -- well, let's face it, drop dead. With a little assistance, if necessary. They desperately want Obama to fail. Even though he espouses many programs that in the past drew Republican support. Most of the key elements in the health care reform legislation were Republican ideas 15 years ago. And if Republicans had truly tried to negotiate a totally bipartisan health care package, they could have attained even more. But instead they chose to bad mouth everything Obama favors. Labeling it socialist. When really, it isn't. If Obama were a white man, he'd probably be accepted by these far right radicals. It's his blackness that galls them. They liked it when black people knew their place in American society. Before the likes of Obama became educated and uppity. And really, sort of superior to and more decent than the bitter white supremacist. These loonies don't like playing second fiddle to people who were enslaved and subjugated at the time of the founding of the nation. Yes, it was a shameful part of American history. That and the genocide perpetrated on native Americans. Whites think of those times as glory days. Yes, for whites. When whites ruled the universe. And too many whites still refuse to face up to our nation's past sins. Instead, the far right conservative element of our white population continues to live the sin. Making for a sad legacy. Yes, we Americans still have a long way to go. In ridding our society of deep-seated racism. --Jim Broede