How black is Barack Obama?

Madam, - Media reports on the American presidential campaign routinely refer to Senator Barack Obama as "potentially the first…

Madam, - Media reports on the American presidential campaign routinely refer to Senator Barack Obama as "potentially the first black US president".

Obama's mother was a white woman from Kansas, his father was a black man from Kenya. Genetically, he is just as much "white" as "black".

If he were running for the presidency of Kenya, would he be called "potentially Kenya's first white president"? What does all this say about ingrained racism? - Yours, etc,

JERRY CROWLEY, Belgrove Lawn, Chapelizod, Dublin 20.