Keep Your Opinions to Yourself! Why Anti-Obama Blacks Keep Quiet

What follows is a post from a brilliant woman who sees things so clearly - of course I'm not talking about myself! :-)
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I usually avoid talking politics with anyone but close friends and family, but I tend to let my hair down with my hairdresser. Still, I’ve steered clear of sharing my anti-Obama sentiments with her out of fear that she’d be offended.

As I sat in her chair on a Saturday afternoon and opened the paper to reveal a photo from the previous night’s presidential debate, she asked how I felt about the debate. I practically whispered, “I hate to admit it but I can’t stand Barack Obama.” She looked at me and responded, “You and me too. I don’t like him either.” In that moment we breathed a sigh of relief and laughed out loud. We’d been hiding the truth from one another for months.

You see my hairdresser is a hard-working immigrant from Ethiopia. I mistakenly assumed that she’d be an Obama supporter. She assumed that as an African-American, I’d be too.

We talked quietly, sharing our misgivings and, even more importantly, talking about our disappointment with the blind following he’s garnered among African Americans. It’s virtually impossible for black folk to believe that one can be of African descent and not support him.

Now, I’d be the first to support a qualified African American candidate who shares my values and is willing to candidly discuss his positions. Unfortunately Barack Obama is not that candidate. The media has allowed him to breeze through the primaries and refuses to press him for clarity as to what he’d actually do as President of the United States.

I’m deeply concerned about Senator Obama’s lack of experience and inability to articulate clear and consistent positions on issues as important as national security and our financial future. What’s more, I’m personally insulted by the arrogance he betrays when confronted with questions about his ability to lead. I’m not convinced one iota by his slick double-talk and unless he can re-create himself over the next few weeks as genuine and plain speaking, he will not win my vote. John McCain has my vote today. Of course, a lot can happen in just a few weeks. Even more so given the turmoil we’ve seen these past few weeks.

This past week I attended a conference at the Ronald Reagan Convention Center in DC. I had thought twice about taking off my McCain bumper sticker before driving into Chocolate City, but thought better of it. Surely in the capitol of these United States I could ride around with whatever bumper sticker I wanted, right? Not so fast. My security check went fine, but when the guard came back around to the front of my car and I said, “ok?” he shook his head no with a serious look on his face and said, “I saw that bumper sticker on your car!” We laughed and I proceeded. A joke between a brother and sister, but it made me think twice.

If my hairdresser is any indication, there are many more of us out here than are willing to speak out which means election night results will be must see t.v.