I see your point Musclescience, but I disagree with your assessment of 'most of my generation'. Even with every single black person of voting age in america voting for Obama, it still pails in comparison to the group of whites who oppose Obama because of his race (upwards of 10% of all voting age whites) according to some statistics.
I also see your point about white Europeans. But like you I can't walk the streets of Tehran, Nairobi, or Tokyo but I also can't walk the streets of some places in Russia, Poland, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, etc. all because the color of my skin.
Racism exists, there's no denying that, but you cannot deny that it also has some place in politics. Just look at some of the rhetoric during some of these rallies. It's right there in the open.
Here's my overall beef Musclescience, many conservatives act like our best days are behind us. But for Blacks and other minorities, this is the best time in history for us. Sure the unemployment rate is hovering around 10% and around 20% for blacks. But for once we are seeing a level playing field (or as close to level as we've ever seen it) and we have Obama to thank for that. You bring up the issue of blacks voting for Obama, did you realize that Obama garnered more white votes than any other Democratic presidential candidate since JFK? It seems to me that SOME whites are fearful that their "supposed" sense of entitlement has come to an end. But it simply isn't true. The man isn't hitler or the anti-christ and I don't see him destroying our constitution. Bush did more against the constitution than Obama has ever proposed. If people would simply LISTEN to the man and not to this right wing nut jobs then they would see that, even though he is very liberal, he believes in the constitution. Look, I don't agree with everything that Obama does (I'm major pissed about the continuation of the Patriot Act shit), but I agree with many of his policies, much more than any republican candidate.
I want this country to succeed, I'm American and damned proud to be one. But the anger and rhetoric expoused today against this man is simply unfounded. People need to think for themselves and maybe we can have rational dialogue about this and I think we really do need a rational dialogue about race, but there appears to be blatant ignorance on both sides.