Speaking of American growing pains, see in Salon Erin Aubry Kaplan’s piece “Who’s Afraid Of Michelle Obama?“. Excerpt:
What would a country that had criminalized blackness for 350 years do when it woke up and realized it was seriously supporting a black man for president? I tracked the bad signs big and small, from the Jeremiah Wright crisis to reports that Obama’s young campaign workers were getting shellshocked by racism in Pennsylvania.