For those unaware of the situation, Sen. Barack Obama [D.-Ill.] is a black man.

As my friend Doug likes to shriek in fake terror, "He's black, people. He's black!"

Some might consider the joke vaguely racist, but Doug is a champion of saying the uncomfortable things that make people think.

I mention it only becuase, in the surreal world of U.S. presidential politics, you are allowed to be a candidate of African American descent, but you can't talk about the experience of a black person in America, because that is "dealing the race card from the bottom of the deck."

In other words, please don't remind us that you're black and that a black person's experience of U.S. institutions of all kinds is statistically proven more negative than whites.

To succeed as an African American presidential candidate, you must ignore the statistics that prove instutional racism in this country because that makes white people feel uncomfortably guilty and less likely to vote for you.

You can't even mention Martin Luther King's name on the 45th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize winner's most memorable speech, the "I have a dream" speech delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Aug. 28, 1963.

In his speech accepting the Democratic Party's presidential nomination Thursday, Aug. 28, Obama failed to mention King by name, referring to him only as "the preacher."

To win in November, Barack Obama cannot talk extensively about race because, just about everyone agrees, race consciousness alienates voters.

There's plenty for Obama to talk about in this election, but one of the central facts of his existence has been taken off the table because America doesn't want to hear about it.

I'd like to hear more about Obama the human being, but I understand why he must not share all of the real life experience of a black man in America - the truth might set him free, but it would also lose him the election.

My own view on racism is that all people are racists. It is a fundamental aspect of the human condition to fear that which is different and unknown.

The only way to overcome  the innate racism of humans is to acknowledge it as a force at work in the life of every person and then strive vigilantly to safeguard against your own racist thoughts, speech and actions.The best way to do that is to spend more time getting to know the people you fear the most.

That's probably not a viewpoint most people hold, especially those who proclaim the loudest, "I don't have a racist bone in  my body," but history, social science and my own pesonal experience tells me it's true.

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