What Zawahiri failed to note is Malcolm X's transformative pilgrimage to Mecca, where he saw Muslims of all ethnicities and came to realize it's individuals who are good or bad, not races. Malcolm X believed, as well, that Islam as a faith could transcend racial prejudice.

One of the many conspiracies that ran throughout the election was that Barack Obama was secretly a Muslim. Apparently a "sleeper" agent dating back to time he spent as a kid in Indonesia all set to do ruination to America — somehow — once elected president. Personally, I think 40-some years is a long time to be undercover on the off chance you might one day get elected to the highest office in the land. I guess the theorist would chalk that up merely to Obama's hard-core radical dedication to the cause.

But, finally, we have proof that Obama is in fact not a sleeper agent. And it comes from the most reliable of sources: al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

In a posting on terrorist Web sites, Zawahiri calls Obama — according to the translation — a "house Negro" in the vein of Bushies Condi Rice and Colin Powell.

It should be noted that such a view is really more liberal than radical, as any number of lefties have used similar derogatory terms to refer to Rice and Powell. Most famously, it echoes entertainer Harry Belafonte, who used the slur in reference to Powell.

Be that as it may...

In speaking of Obama and his lack of "real" blackness, Zawahiri says Obama is "the direct opposite of honorable black Americans," such as Malcolm X. Presumably, Zawahiri makes this comparison based on Malcolm X's fiery accusations of the "white man" being little more than the devil incarnate when Malcolm X was a Nation of Islam Temple leader.

However, what Zawahiri failed to note is Malcolm X's transformative pilgrimage to Mecca, where he saw Muslims of all ethnicities and came to realize it's individuals who are good or bad, not races. Malcolm X believed, as well, that Islam as a faith could transcend racial prejudice.

Of course, facts tend to take the punch out of a good hate rant and are therefore left best unsaid.

At any rate, thanks to Zawahiri we can put to rest the Obama's-a-Muslim rap. As if, in a land of religious freedom, his faith should matter to begin with.

[Race-baiting] failed to deliver the White House for them. But, like a jilted lover, they just can't seem to handle America's rejection of their tactics.

As I've previously noted, from the "subtleness" of Karl Rove to the overtness of Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland and his "uppity" slur, the far, far right loves them some race-baiting. It failed to deliver the White House for them. But, like a jilted lover, they just can't seem to handle America's rejection of their tactics. Instead of taking the time to go for a "swim in Lake Me" and consider what it is they've done wrong, they instead project fault on the guy America would rather "date."

Talking with the Associated Press on Monday, Georgia Rep. Paul Broun said he's got concerns President-elect Barack Obama will lead the nation toward some kind of Gestapo-like Marxist dictatorship — this in apparent ignorance of the fact Nazism and Marxism were at odds during the Second World War.

Says Broun of Obama's call for a civilian force to take some of the national security burden off the military:

"That's exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it's exactly what the Soviet Union did. When he's proposing to have a national security force that's answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he's showing me signs of being Marxist."

Broun was referring to a campaign speech Obama made calling for an expansion of America's foreign service.

What Broun seems to miss is that Obama was looking to increase America's diplomatic corps as well as build a civilian reserve corps devoted to postwar reconstruction efforts, rather than create an actual civilian police force — concepts that were also championed by current Secretary of State Condi Rice. But then Rice is probably just another secret sleeper Gestapo-Marxist agent that Rep. Broun just didn't have time to out — over the last eight years. And she's probably a Muslim, too!

It should be pointed out that as he's been caught spewing hate Broun now "regrets" having made the remarks.

"The point I tried to make is that he is extremely liberal," said Broun.

Yeah, you know, the way the Nazis were all liberal like that.

Regardless of his lame pullback, Broun's blatant hate talk is not only nonsensical, it's offensive on many levels. Intellectually, of course. But having been said the day before Veterans' Day it's offensive to anyone who actually wore a uniform and fought Nazism, as it is certainly offensive to the victims of the Nazi genocide to make the equation to Hitler. Beyond that, loose hate talk only breeds more hate and I think that's something we can pretty much do without.

You'd think after the election that the radical wing of the Republican Party would have learned that fear-mongering doesn't work any better than race-baiting. But as they will be a political non-entity for at least the next two years, they'll have plenty of time to meditate on just that.

Well, Obama was ready, willing and able to run for all of us. Are all of us ready for him?

The response to the call of "Yes, we can" was the election of Barack Obama to the highest office in the land. It's amazing when you figure that a whole lot of people who've never even had a black boss have proven ready for a person of color as president.

But as the euphoria of the night turns into a Vegas-style buffet of harsh realities, we have to ask: Though America seems ready for a black president, is Black America really ready for a black president?

Sounds a little strange, sure. Emotionally, obviously. But what about practically?

Obama ran as a post-racial candidate. During his campaign, he suggested replacing race-based affirmative action with measures weighted toward socioeconomic factors. He gave a Father's Day speech encouraging black dads to be more engaged. And for his trouble, he was reward with an offer of castration from Jesse Jackson.

Which, as an aside, makes me wonder if on election night Jackson was crying tears of joy, or if he was getting misty-eyed because he knew his day was done?

Obama isn't alone in inciting ire for extolling personal responsibility. Comedian Bill Cosby delivered his "Pound Cake" speech on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education and claimed that not all blacks were "holding up their end of the bargain." In return, he was accused of being a race traitor. As if self-reliance equaled self-hatred.

Sorry, but not waiting for somebody else to get it done is a value that brought people of color up from slavery, through a failed Reconstruction and Jim Crow, to the shared experience of this past Tuesday.

The fear for some is that Obama's election will start people thinking, "Hey, guess we can roll up the civil rights carpet." Hardly. Let's face it: There are gonna be bigots in America for the foreseeable future.

But the cry of the Old Schoolers that American is a racist nation begins to ring hollow. In the era of Obama -- along with Oprah and Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and business executives Dick Parsons and Ken Chenault and on and on -- are those who've made bank flogging the victim stick ready to quit talking about who needs to be cut where and start admitting that yes, we can?

There was a text message sent around before the election that read: "Rosa sat so Martin could march. Martin marched so Obama could run."

Well, Obama was ready, willing and able to run for all of us. Are all of us ready for him?