McCain’s in, Romney’s out and Huckabee’s hoping. On the Dem side, it’s still a battle between Black Barack and Hispanic Hillary. It all seems, if you believe the pundits — and why wouldn’t we, right? — that it’s all going to come down to which of these two combatants will attract most of the white voters, as they, in case you didn’t notice if you live in southern California, make up most of the population.

I would like to have thought that racism, although it still exists, would not play as an important role as it seems to be, in electing our next President. I feel the same about people who will only vote along party lines. I consider all of the above — the racists and the party faithful — as ignorant, uninformed sheep, accepting the rhetoric from leaders of their community or party, as truth.

What do white voters think? That if a black man is elected President, we will all have to listen to hip-hop, eat ribs and/or chicken at every meal, join the “I love Kobe Bryant” club, wear sunglasses 24/7 and perform ritual handshakes?

And that the issues that affect whites like health care, the economy, immigration, the war in Iraq and education, to name a few, will be neglected? Well, people, it just so happens that those same issues, plus poverty and an uneven playing field, also affect blacks. They suffer much more than we in areas like health care and education.

It is time that we, as a nation, became color-blind, for no matter how great America is, and how much we have accomplished, we could be even that much greater and accomplish that much more if we were truly — as we like to boast — simply Americans. There should no longer be a place for white Americans, or black Americans. Especially when it comes to electing the person who is going to lead our country for the next four years.