Mike Huckabee has warned Republicans to lay off Barack Obama.  My thought:  This is a bit patronizing.  Why should Republicans treat Obama any differently than any other candidate? 

... Of course Republicans shouldn't make racist attacks -- that's a given.  But politics is rough-and-tumble -- it has always been that way, and, in my estimation, it's healthy for Democracy. 

We will have achieved equality when Obama is free to be (as Huckabee might say) "demonized" -- just like every other presidential candidate in the history of America has been ...