"Sen. Obama has excited a new generation of voters," Rugola said. "In front of us is the opportunity to re-energize the young people and the disenfranchised people and get them involved in the political process of this country."

It was July 12 and Rugola, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO, was speaking to about 80 leaders of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees during a political conference in Columbus. OAPSE represents school secretaries, custodians, cafeteria workers and bus drivers -- generally the lowest-paid school workers.

Rugola has been executive director of OAPSE for 20 years, and no union leader in Ohio -- perhaps in the country -- understands his membership better. For some members, he knows, the union's endorsement of an African-American for president is a problem.

"Of our 38,000 members, I will tell you not all of them will be comfortable about us talking to them about this choice," Rugola told the OAPSE leaders. Then, he was even more direct.

In Rugola's view, Obama "is the smartest candidate for president I've ever met," but he implored the leaders to face head-on "that some folks are going to have a problem with what we're saying about Barack Obama's ability to be a leader because he's an African-American."

Afterward, Sandy Wheeler, state secretary of the union and a secretary at Lima High School, said Rugola was right to confront the reality of racism in his union.

"We're all realistic individuals and we've been around long enough to know our membership," Wheeler said. "It's an issue we have to work on. They have to get past the color of (Obama's) skin. He is the best man for this country. Joe sees it, he knows it, he gets it across to us and we'll get it across to our members."

This race for president should not be decided on the basis of race. Vote for or against Obama or his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, on the basis of their experience, competence, ideas and ability to lead. Vote for or against them on the basis of how they stand on the Iraq war, national security, health care, education, taxes and government spending -- just about anything. But don't make your vote about race.

It works both ways. Last week, I covered both candidates' addresses to the 99{+t}{+h} convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Cincinnati. The vastly different receptions accorded Obama (delirious) and McCain (polite) anecdotally supported what the polling shows: Obama likely will capture 90 percent of the black vote.

There is more than symbolism in the prospect of electing the nation's first African-American president. An Obama White House would be salve -- not a cure -- for two centuries of second-class citizenship for too many blacks. But an automatic African-American vote for Obama is just as wrong as an automatic white vote against him. McCain deserves consideration from blacks.

A New York Times poll last week showed that, heading into the Nov. 4 election, Americans are sharply divided by race and that skin color dictates different views of the world. Nearly 60 percent of black respondents said race relations were bad, compared with 34 percent of whites. Four in 10 blacks said there has been no recent progress in eliminating racial discrimination; fewer than 2 in 10 whites said the same thing. One-fourth of white respondents said too much had been made of racial barriers facing black people; half of the black respondents said not enough had been made of them.

Outside the NAACP convention, I bumped into a black gentleman from Columbus, whose name I did not write down and can't remember. We had a brief discussion about race in the presidential election, but I remember one thing he said: "People need to feel good about themselves, not superior to anyone else."

Confidence in ourselves and pride in our country, wanting what's best for it and a troubled world, should instruct how we vote in November. There is too much at stake for Americans, one people, to allow this race to be decided by race.

Joe Hallett is senior editor at The Dispatch.

jhallett@dispatch.com