No matter what your political leanings, you have to appreciate the momentousness of Barack Obama being elected President, the first (half-) African-American to be selected as the Commander in Chief. (As an aside, we have to give major kudos to the President-elect for strongly considering adopting a shelter mutt as the dog to join the Obama family in the White House. Obviously, we hope he does go the shelter route.) So much for the Bradley effect, which so many on the left had feared and so many on the right had counted on.
We'd like to think that the 50-plus million Americans who voted for McCain (or against Obama, if you want to put it that way) did so because they legitimately supported McCain's policies, or opposed Obama's, or weren't comfortable with Obama's inexperience compared to the Republican nominee. Contrary to what many people in this area seem to believe, there are a number of valid considerations that lent themselves to pulling the lever for John McCain. Race just wasn't one of them, and it seems that pretty much everyone in America got the message.
Everyone, that is, except the sorry excuse for an American who left a burning cross on the lawn of the Grewal family in North Jersey late Tuesday night. The Grewals supported Barack Obama, and did so with a display of their First Amendment rights: a makeshift Obama victory banner made by Anila Grewal on Tuesday evening. We're guessing our anonymous douchebag had a difference of political opinion—which would be fine, and understandable had it been expressed constructively rather than through an attempted show of intimidation. (Cross-burning generally is protected by the First Amendment, but not when it's done with the intent to intimidate. Burning the cross on someone's lawn is pretty much de facto evidence of an intent to intimidate.)
The only thing that kind of satisfies us about this story is that the Grewals didn't see the evidence of the burning cross until the next morning, when rain had already smoldered it out. And minimal property damage was done. Tuesday was an historic night, and one that, we hope, brings us another step closer to a time when people like our Asshole of the Week are nothing more than a historical curiosity that future generations will one day look back on and say, "There were people who believed that?!"
Image Credit: Flickr user bobster1985
