Are white people putting guns to the heads of black men and forcing them to join gangs, rob stores and deal drugs? No? Then leave us out of it.

Barack Obama referred to a Constitution "stained by this nation's original sin of slavery." How short is the list of nations that never had slavery? Could we just once stop to celebrate the fact that what makes us unique as a nation in terms of slavery is not that we had it, but that America was one of the first nations on earth to outlaw the practice? A lot of white guys died to bring that about. No credit?

The resentment, defeatism and hate that too many black parents and leaders teach their children is so deep that Obama’s preacher, Rev. Wright actually said that Obama is “not a rich man.” He says this why? Is it his knee-jerk evaluation of all black people? Is it the internalized self-evaluation of all black people?

Obama is a United States Senator who lives in a mansion. He is a graduate of Harvard Law. Ditto Mrs. Obama, who lately was earning over $300,000 a year. He has two best-selling books. Chicago Magazine reports that Obama made $737,690 last year (add that to his wife’s income.) That is way more than Democrats are talking about when they scream for more taxes on “the rich.” The Obama’s are the very picture of wealth, power and privilege in America. Did they earn it? Yes they did. Good for them.

I had hope - there it is - that while I could not agree with Obama's socialist policies, he would at least move race relations ahead. Now I know he will not.

I don't think there are simple answers to why blacks still struggle, but Wright's it's-whitey's-fault approach is as simple as they come, and most certainly part of the problem. It's well-known now that you can't solve a problem until you admit it exists. When the rest of America heard what was being preached at Obama's church, they -- to put it mildly -- saw a problem.

How often does it happen that a black person who has done well enough to be interviewed about success gives all the credit to the person who raised him or her? Almost every time. What do they mention particularly? That their parent(s) or grandparent(s) emphasized that life isn’t fair and that they were expected to achieve anyway. Condoleezza Rice says of her parents, "they refused to allow the limits and injustices of their time to limit our horizons." Why isn’t this catching on?

You want to know why white kids succeed? Their parents tell them to. Their parents expect them to. If the school doesn’t provide a book they send their child to the library. You should try the library, it’s free. While the children are doing their lessons the adults could wander over to the self-help section and read “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People” or something like it. There are plenty of choices. (But not “The Secret,” that’s another get-something-for-nothing book.)

You could point out that while I am busy absolving myself of the problems in the black community I am not doing anything to help. Perhaps that is true, but I didn’t help the Asian children either. How are they doing?