I've said this before and I'll say it again. If you look at many of my friends and heroes when I was in high school and college, I would be tarred as a radical activist at best and killer by association at worst. The reality is I was none of these things. I was a kid finding my way. I didn't protest -- was too busy keeping a scholarship, working and training (track) and I could never disrespect my father and brother that way. I knew (and liked) people who were members of the Weathermen. I knew Bobby Seale and had been at get togethers at his house in Oakland many times (what can I say, they always had good grass). One of my best friends in college was Lou Alcindor. Kareem called me before he became a black Muslim to tell me and basically end our friendship since I was the wrong color. We still correspond via email. Angela Davis was my mentor in college and I truly admired her and her beliefs. I've talked to Ms. Davis a few times since her return. Amazingly, she's mellowed, too, and is not quite such a radical. I didn't agree with all of their beliefs but more than I care to admit today. I am not the kid I was then.

I love America. Always have. Always will. I see her faults. I see the things that make her great. I've lived in enough nations as a child and revisited them as an adult to see America without blinders or rose-colored glasses. One of its biggest pluses in mind is the ability of ths nation and its people to forgive the transgressions of its enemies (within and outside of its boundaries) and turn them into friends. We did it with Germany and Japan. We did it with many protestors, including Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, William Ayers to name just a few.

If the best that can be done is to tar a man with the brush of his parents, grandparents and youth, then maybe he is the man for the job. Maybe some of you truly hold the exact same beliefs of your parents and grandparents, but I hope not. I adored my father and loved my mother. They were both human and had their prejudices and flaws. They worked hard to teach my brother and I to not have those prejudices because they understood the world was shrinking and regional prejudices were just plain wrong even as they held on to those beliefs. While my father was a Dem, I'm willing to bet he would have switched to the Republican party as he aged. My mother was the most non-political creature I've ever met. I'm neither Republican nor Democrat. I wouldn't vote a party ticket if you held a gun to my head. I'll vote for whom I think is the best person regardless of party affiliation, race, sex or religious belief.

Obama has never prostylized violence, the taking over of America, Islam as a religion. He has categorically stated he loves this country, he denounces violence, he is a Christian. These should not be the issues we are looking at. We should be concerned about his lack of experience, what he plans to do about the economy, energy, health care, etc. We should be deciding if he is the best man for the job because of what he can do for this country not because of who his grandparents' friends were or the fact that one of his mentors dared to speak about communism or radicalism (yes, I've read Alinsky's book -- all of it -- there's some good points in it, especially about union organizing, and some that scare the heck out of me), ad nauseum.