Oh, how I wish this wasn’t so newsworthy. Come to think about it, it really isn’t. Raphael Saadiq recently stated that he’s going to vote for Barack Obama during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Duh!

The said news is that he argued that he didn’t vote during the 2004 election between George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry because he wasn’t motivated. “I didn’t vote last time ‘cos I knew Bush was gonna be back in there, that’s not a great reason not to vote, but sometimes people aren’t motivated to vote,” he told WENN.

There’s a hint of sadness for me in there, because I’m such a huge Raphael Saadiq fan. I’m glad that he’s voting and supporting my presidential candidate. But given how many blacks suffered for our right to vote in America, we shouldn’t be moved only when we see a black person on the ballot. We need to engage in all national and international politics throughout to make informed choices.

To Saadiq’s credit, he did suggest that he’s voting for Obama not just because of his race. “I think it means a lot for the black community… (but) more than that, more than it being about a black president, it’s more about being the best person for the job. He’s a black president and everybody’s gonna look at it like, ‘Oh, we got a black president’, but it’s more than that.”

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