Bian Mr. Obama, | wish the only thing that mattered were your qualifications "7 ana ae icture ™ Nikalas | Pp ,, Kryzanowski) opinions editor | ; | setting: The National ___| Mall in Washington D.C. Excitement builds as the 44" president of the United States is about to be inaugurated. The crowd roars, and the media is abuzz, revellers all over the world crowd around TV screens. The Rio Theatre in East Vancouver is showing it on their big screen for free. Please welcome President Condoleeza Rice! The former secretary of state under George W. Bush and the first black and the first female president of the United States! It didn’t quite go that way this time around. But with the hoopla surrounding Obama’s victory that made the Democrat the first black president of the US, I can’t help but wonder what the reaction to her would’ve been. She would’ ve made history, but she’s got a similar outlook as disgraced outgoing president George W. Bush. Bittersweet? Would the activist Left have turned out to the National Mall with eggs in hand the way they did in 2000 for Bush? Or would they have united behind her and honoured her for her sex and skin pigmentation? It’s an interesting question. Politics these days seems to focus more on trivial things and less on the important. I have a friend with a very anti- Harper, anti-Conservative outlook. She got caught up in Obamamania as much as anyone. Maybe more. When I tactlessly asked her what Obama stood for, she couldn’t really say. When I suggested that Obama might conceivably be as right wing as Stephen Harper, she happily asked me to stop being a buzzkill! Major media outlets seem to think that Joe and Joanne Voter were more interested in what’s on the cafeteria menu at Sasha and Malia Obama’s exclusive new private school and how glittery Michelle Obama’s dress was than whether Barack Obama can fix the country. And during the election it was “the race factor.” In interviews with African Americans during the inauguration you heard, “I’m so glad to see one of us in office.” One of us. While there is no denying it, history has been made here. But one of us could equally mean Condoleeza Rice. Back in June, Armstrong Williams, a conservative Republican talk show host— who happens to be black—said: “T don’t necessarily like his policies; I don’t like much that he advocates, but for the first time in my life, history thrusts me to really seriously think about it,” Williams said. “I can honestly say I have no idea who I’m going to pull that lever for in November. And to me, that’s incredible.” I’m tiptoeing in controversial waters here, but since when has race and gender-based hiring ever been demonstrated. to be a good thing? The one thing that I’m sure we can agree on is a hope for the day when whether black, white or whatever, that race becomes irrelevant in all aspects of society — when we stop dividing ourselves into factions of us and them. That in the future, that cold day at the National Mall will be a footnote in a history book of men and women from any race or colour. Those who are the best qualified for the office of president. A wedding ring is not the key to a successful marriage By Priscilla Bartleman "All weddings are similar, but every marriage is different.” —John Berger ifferent people come together and join in holy/ unholy matrimony for different reasons. I used to tell myself that I was not going to get married; that it was just a piece of paper. So, why did I do it? Well, I found someone that I thought, “Hey, I can really commit to linking my life with this person’s life for as long as we both mutually agree, which could very possibly be until death do us part.” It was not one of those romantic hot air balloon proposals, either; it was a practical discussion between two people ready to take a commitment to a different level. There was no engagement ring, and there were no real wedding rings; there was a ceremony of immediate family and closest friends. We used rings in the ceremony but we do not wear wedding rings to this day. I have been asked on many occasions why I don’t wear a ring. I say I am married and people look down at my hands for the evidence of this fact. I can’t help but ask myself why. Why do people feel the need to question my motives because I don’t wear a ring? It does not mean I am unfaithful, it does not mean I love my husband less than those who do wear rings, and it does not mean I care less about the sanctity of marriage. It was not about the rings for us; it was about the emotional commitment to one another. I wanted him to know that I was going to be there to laugh it up, cheer him on and give him a helping hand when he is down. So the sanctity of marriage for us is not in a wedding band; it is bonded into each day we share a laugh, a tear, and on occasion a raised voice!