And Rightly So!

(CNN) — Armstrong Williams is an African-American conservative commentator who is thinking about making a decision that he says is so agonizing, it gives him heartburn.

Some black Republicans and conservatives say they are torn by Democrat Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy.

This fall, he may vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee.

The nationally known radio talk show host is a proud third-generation Republican who chuckles when African-American friends tell him it’s time to “return home” to the Democratic Party.

Though he still hasn’t decided for whom he’ll cast his ballot, there’s something about Obama’s presidential candidacy that excites him.

“History, brother,” Williams said. “It cannot be anything else.

“There’s very little that I agree with Obama on. Since the founding of our country, there have only been white men who have occupied the White House. … To have someone break through that barrier and say to some kids, you can be president. Whether you like it or not, symbolism is important.”

Obama’s presidential candidacy is causing a political identity crisis among some black conservatives. Torn between ideology and the chance to make history, some don’t know what they’re going to do when they enter the voting booth in November.

This article did give me some heartburn. Mainly because I find this entire discussion on race and sex to be the symptoms of Democrat identity politics as usual.

If I were to say that I were not to vote for Obama because he is not 100% white, and in fact I would not vote for him because he is viewed as a black man and his skin is dark, I would be labeled a racist and bigot. Yet, if I were to tell you that I were voting FOR Obama because he is not 100% white, and in fact were voting for him because he is viewed as a black man and his skin is dark, the worst I would face would be silence from the same crowd who cried “racism” earlier.

And the same holds true for Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin. If I were to cast my vote against based on the genitalia and chromosomal make-up of the candidate, I would be labeled a sexist pig. Yet if you were to vote for them for the EXACT same reasons I chose not too, the worst you would face would be silence from the same crowd who cried “sexism” earlier.

And this bugs me. Big time. It is hypocritical.

Now let me flesh this out some more…

If the candidate shares your views politically, and at the same time shares a common background based on race or perhaps sex, than using race or sex as a factor in helping you decide who to cast your vote for is not a bad delineating factor. Yet in the above article, there are those who are considering voting for a person WHO DOES NOT SHARE their political views and are simply considering voting for Obama simply out of “symbolism” or to help “make history”. That is short-sighted and selfish, in my humble opinion. I have no doubt that the temptation is there to put a man into office who is not white. It truly would be historic and show how far this country has indeed come in healing the hurts that slavery and racism left on this country. Putting a man in that is so to the left of the political spectrum that Lenin and Marx have cricks in their necks trying to look at him is not the time to do so.

And I am of the thought that to vote for a man simply because of his skin color, or for a woman because of her gender, in order to advance some symbol of civil or women’s rights, is racist and sexist, respectively.

Perhaps I feel this way because I wasn’t brow-beat by liberal teachers and parents that I’m a racist because I am white and owe people stuff because of it. Perhaps I feel this way because I see exactly what Dr. King said about the content of character as opposed to being judged by the color of one’s skin…