A response is called for to the accusation that the "...US ... does seem to be behind inspite of it's claim as the land of opportunity..." The focus, of course is on the election of a President who is a person of color, however, "Old Europe has disdained this country for years as racially prejudiced, though for years some of our most beloved popular figures have been African Americans. At this point we have had black generals in our military, black members of our presidential cabinets, black Supreme Court justices, black political leaders throughout the states, and black CEOs all over the lot. No European nation has shown such tolerance to color, ethnic origins, or religious and political disagreement. Spare us your canards about racial prejudice in the Great Republic, and may I remind our European critics that 2009, the year in which Senator Obama will be inaugurated to the presidency, is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator." I wish I had written that missive, but the source is The American Spectator, dated November 5, 2008... (Ironic,isn't it that there were two women involved in the presidential race this year... both of whom were beaten by a Black man?)