I have a dear friend of mixed ethnic heritage-- white, black, and American Indian. Notice, I said "ethnic" and not racial, as I sincerely believe there is only one race (human). She was raised Catholic, in a solid working class neighborhood, is married to a wonderful man, has  grown sons and a number of grandchildren. 

Yet, I observed as her co-worker, everyone else ignored her mixed background, and pegged her as "black" and expected her to fit their cultural stereotype of the "black American" which she most assuredly does not.

I see this same problem now dragging Mr. Obama down in rural areas. What can the Democratic Party (and Mr. Obama's campaign) do to counteract this inaccuracy? He's made no bones about being of mixed ethnic heritage (hey, most of us are too -- rarely do we even think about Italians marrying Germans, or Swedes marrying Australians, and the differences there can be as disparate as Kansans and Kenyans.)

I'm not a political genius. I'll vote for Obama if he is the  nominee, but will not vote for Hillary--  even thought I share her demographic I will not vote on the basis of her personally, and her gender has nothing to do with it.

How do we convince people what scientists have said for many years-- that we are all out of Africa-- and we are all just brothers and sisters with different shades of brown? How do we make that message acceptable, and get people to look past so-called differences to see the message and the man, not the pigeonhole where he doesn't fit?