We're just a couple of months away.

The first celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day since B.O. was elected to lead the nation.

There will be much pomp and circumstance. Much will be made of the fact that B.O. is a black man, elected to the highest office in the land.

Dr. King would weep.

His dream has been given a terrible blow.

Dr. King 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."

This has taken place. My children play with black children in school. My children know as "Uncle Ryan" a black man who is one of my closest friends. To them, these children, and their "uncle" are not black. They are simply good people. Their skin color is not even a secondary concern.

Dr. King's dream has been fulfilled by not just my family, but families all across this nation.

In this past election, 95% of blacks voted for now president-elect B.O.

It is difficult to say that skin color did not play a factor, because clearly 95% of whites did not vote for John McCain. Many whites voted for B.O. as well.

Since the election, we have heard how it was "historic". Frankly, every election is historic. There have been less than 50 men who have held the office of the American presidency. B.O. is the latest man to join that elite club. But that is not why the media and other call this election historic.

As far as I am concerned, the nation elected a Democrat to office, not a black man. I focus, not on his skin color, but on what I have been able to determine about his character.

But many who sing the praises of Dr. King do not, and by this lack of proper focus, have set his dream back quite a bit, simply by making such a big deal about his skin color.

Dr. King said:

"...we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

I, Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. long for that freedom, when skin color does not matter to anyone.

Now that we are being told that history has been made by electing a black president, it looks like that dream is further away than ever.

There will be bitterness, though no blood...

And that's a good thing.

Power will change hands in a few weeks in America, and not one drop of blood will have been spilled to do it. Compared to other ostensibly democratic nations, the fact that intimidation was not widespread (and dealt with swiftly where it was encountered), and there was not any sort of civil unrest that resulted from a popular or unpopular decision being made, America has this democracy thing pretty well figured out.

I mention this, because people in some other democracies question how we can claim such superiority when we can't even figure out one universal method to elect our leaders (paper ballots in one state or precinct, electronic voting machines in another, and mechanical machines in another, etc).

But our elections have always ended in a peaceful transition of power. That is why America has kept superiority in the realm of democracies.

And, though I dislike the man's views, and will likely have serious issues with his policy decisions, Barack Obama (one of the last times I will not refer to him by his initials) will be my president. No, I did not vote for him, and no, I do not support many of the tactics that were used to ensure his too-quick rise to power.

But I live in a democracy. And the majority has spoken, even if I don't like what was said.

As long as Obama is president, he will have my support and defense, inasmuch as I do not live in some alternate United States where he is not MY president (as many felt about George W. Bush).

That doesn't mean that I will agree with, or even like him. That just means that I recognize who he is, by virtue of the system of government that I choose to live under and participate in.