I’m really proud of Frank. He sometimes skips voting because he’s so disgusted with the candidates. As he put it, “When you’re black, you have to consider a different big picture, and sometimes there is no big picture to even consider.”  

Frank is one of several blacks I know who did not vote for the “O.” Most are well educated and extremely concerned that an Obama presidency will reflect badly on the entire black community. It was their hope that the first black presidential candidate would be someone better than a street agitator with few, if any, credentials other than associating deliberately with those who want to destroy the United States. Frank exemplified this awareness when he watched a program on Liberia.

“I have nothing in common with those folks because I was born and raised here,” he said. “I don’t have a clue about their struggles, can’t understand their anger and hostility, and wouldn’t want to grow up in such a hate-filled country.”

Hmmmm. Didn’t the “O” tell us that’s what’s wrong with America? Didn’t he take us back decades, nay centuries, when he reminded blacks, with the assistance and not-so-kind words of the “Reverend” Jeremiah Wright, that they’re still being screwed by the American political system. As he put it, “Bill Clinton did us the way he did Monica Lewinsky.”

If that’s the case, why are the Clintons running around campaigning for the “O.” I would think there’d be some distance there, especially after the “O” and the media screwed Hillary worse than Bill did Monica, with or without the blue dress.

So, Frank voted for McCain/Palin because he doesn’t like the way the media and the democrats have treated them. “It’s one thing to attack their policies, and another to attack them as people,” he said. “Palin’s a real American. She may be white, but she’s walked a bit in my shoes. She’s worked hard to support her family. She knows what hard work is and I believe she’ll work hard for folks like me. Obama just wants to steal from me.”  

Bear in mind that when I met Frank he was working at a fast food restaurant and was still trying to pass the GED—without studying properly for the test. His reading skills were in the toilet and his math skills were lower. Frank was a classic example of special education gone wrong and social promotions. Then I tutored Frank in language arts and some teachers tutored him in math.

Frank passed the equivalency test and is now enrolled at the local community college. He also works full time as a specialist for a local department store and recently rented a small apartment of his own. His reading level has soared to college level and his book supply takes up half his living room. More than that, his ability to think critically has exploded. While discussing the election with me this morning he said something that blew me away.  

“Obama has no loyalty to America. He hates too many people groups, including his own. Having Obama in the White House would be the same as having a Japanese or German president in the White House during World War II,” he said. “I see him as more of a spy who has infiltrated this nation than a loyal American. He’s a spy inside for America’s enemies.”

While Frank is 27 years old, I can’t help but think “out of the mouths of babes,” when I listened to him reason his way through the election process. “I grew up with a father who hated white America. He was the worst kind of racist because he never took responsibility for his own actions. Instead, he blamed everyone else for his lot in life. Whites didn’t make him a womanizer, he did. Whites didn’t make him buy drugs; he did that on his own.”  

Frank voted in his precinct which is largely black with a sprinkling of whites. He didn’t care what anyone thought. He talked with a woman on line about the need to work hard for what you want in life. As he put it, “It’s not the government’s job to take care of me. It’s up to me to take care of me.”

There are a few who understand . . . if only there were more.