The first African American president

With the election of Mr. Obama as President the news is about the country's first African-American president. In this matter the facts as I understand them are as follows: a) Mr. Obama's father was from Africa and his skin was dark, and b) Mr. Obama's mother was from the United States and her skin was light. Why then is Mr. Obama an African-American? Is he not as much American as African? When Mr. Bush (either one) was president we did not talk about his ancestry. Why is Mr. Obama's ancestry any more interesting than Mr Bush's or any other of our presidents?

Please understand, I am aware of slavery and the subsequent blight of racial discrimination involving blacks, latinos and others. I'm also aware of the role religious descrimination has played. And of course aware of the historical discrimination against Irish (check out period employment adds with the phrase "Irish need not apply"), Chinese, and many others. But this is, after all, America. We are a nation of immigrants from all over the world. Some of us have light skin, and some dark, and some a mix, and some yellow, and on and on. Is this not a central element of the American ideal?

I would submit that Mr. Obama is not an African American, rather he is an American. While my ancestry may have been Western Europe and Native American, his involved Africa and Western Europe. While our skin colors are different we are both simply American. When, as a country, we abandon the notion of the hyphenated American and come to understand that we are a nation of ethnic muts we will, in my opinion, come closer to what one great American said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Perhaps as a nation we've made some small progress when we see Mr Obama for the quality of his character. We can, perhaps, make more when the color of his skin is no longer a matter of note.