His father is an immigrant. His mother is American by birth. He is a mulatto. He attended public schools, a school guided by strict religious principals, and he has excelled in the hallowed halls of an elite private liberal university. He received counsel from fiery yet compassionate pastoral activist that challenges our honesty about race relations. He has friends with ethical, financial and business problems that make you wonder about his judgment. Yet, through it all, his words and deeds are inclusive and met the highest ethical and moral standards. Barack Obama is the composite American candidate in the electoral process in which we are engaged. At the same time, his run for the presidency is unique because of all of the above.

Those that oppose Barack Obama’s run for the White House will say he is not a patriot or electable and will play to our unspoken fears about a neighbor’s religion and or race. This is a new version of the divisive “Southern Strategy” of the past, which sought to keep Americans of different races and economic strata from realizing their common ground. Barack Obama seeks to bridge that perceived and real gap in our country and bring us together to achieve what is possible.

Barack Obama is a patriot because he has chosen to speak out against policies that have cost the lives of our children, while working within the system of government that we have chosen. He challenges our business and financial leaders to be innovative and create jobs for the future as well as admonish them for our failure to care and hire our veterans and those less fortunate in our communities. His presence in this political process is holding us accountable for our county’s institutional racism of the past. His candidacy is reminding us to fulfill our founding fathers idea of political participation for all citizens of the United States of America.