It's recently been explained to me that Barack Obama is an African American. As someone who was raised not to "see" color, it never registers to me if someone is black or white or Asian or Italian. One consequence of this heightened way of thinking is that I often don't know what kind of restaurant I'm in until literally the moment I'm served. Another consequence is that the historical significance of Obama's win didn't hit me until a few days ago.

At first, I thought that America had finally embraced my colorless way of thinking and elected the best man for the job, regardless of race. Judging from the editorials I've been reading, however, this is not the case. Apparently, America was ready for a black president not because we've become enlightened, but because of 24, Tony Dungy, and soccer.

Analyzing Obama's win on those terms, it becomes easy to see why he won the election: beer commercials.