Senator Obama is an African-American. His father is African (Kenya) and his mother is American (Kansas).

His father was African (from Kenya) and his mother is American (Kansas) therefore he is an African-American by the strictest terms.

African-American is synonymous with black in the United States.

We all know what the politically correct definition is.

That doesn't go far enough towards the reality. He is a child of a white woman and a black man. He's not black and he's not white.

He is a combination of the two. Therefore calling him a black man is wrong. Calling him a white man is also wrong.

He is being called black because his physical appearance resembles that of black men. The truth is he isn't 100% black, he's mixed race.

Mulatto: A person of mixed white and black ancestry, esp. a person with one white and one black parent.

He cannot become the first black president. He can become the first mulatto president.

I am a black man. Have been all my life. I'm mixed with white as well but I consider myself black.

You know what, why is this even an issue? There's only one human race.

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Why don't you call yourself a white man if you share ancestry with a white? It seems you're ignoring the fact that you have white ancestry. Why is this a problem? Why not proudly say "I'm a proud American Mulatto."

What made you decide to just represent yourself with the black part of your ancestry?

Why not just call yourself a Mulatto?

Black, White, multiracial, Asian, Mulatto, Indian, Vulcan...etc etc... these are all vague cultural constructs that have gradually evolved in certain social and historical contexts to describe and generalize (albeit inaccurately) the much more complex realities of global biological diversity. In and of themselves, none of these racial categories objectively exist outside of our collective agreement. None of the these terms though are truly meaningful outside of our popular usage of them.

Within that realm, Obama has chosen to identify himself as a black person, although he frequently makes reference to the fact that he is actually "mixed."

Likely he went with black for political reasons and because historically if one even vaguely looks African then people consider them black even if they only have one black ancestor. We wouldn't be talking about him right now if decades ago he had chosen to ID himself as a white guy...because nobody would have taken him seriously.

If someone is mixed race, or, mulatto, then they should say so. Using color of skin as an identifier for political gain is racism. It is racism under the most basic of definitions of racism.

Obama is Mulatto. He should say so, and quit pandering to blacks exclusively because of his skin tone and half of his heritage.

He's not black, he's not white. He's both. The MSM presents him as black. Black leaders look at him as black - with a wink wink, nod nod, basically ignoring his white ancestry. Why is that? Why don't whites say he's white? It's equally accurate to say he's white as it is to proclaim him a black man.

He's a Mulatto. He should be called such in the public forum.

It's an interesting situation, I think, for Mulattos to be in. If someone calls Obama a "N", he can be offended, and if they call him a "H", he can also be offended. I wonder how man Mulattos who's outward physical characteristics appear more black than white have used derogatory terms aimed at whites. Or, for that matter, called a black man or woman a "N"?

You are overthinking this to the point of absurdity. Every mulatto I have ever met consider themself Black, not half this or that. This term had wide use in slavery time with other terms referring to various degree of white blood a slave had. There were classification for 1/2 to 1/16 black. Are we going to bring back all those names to? I think Obama, Halle Berry or Tiger Woods have the right to label themselves whatever they choose to be. We really don't need a non-black person telling us want we should be called according to the amount of white blood we have, again.