Barack Hussein Obama is the fifth African American running for President of the United States. His campaign is at its peak and he is being touted by many as the future president.

As far as Obama is concerned, there are two types of people. The first are those who love him. They see him for the charismatic, smart and sharp person that he is. He is perceived as an out of the box thinker, a revolutionary and someone who will take America forward. He is certainly a big change from the typical suburban white American male aged 55-70 that typically runs for President.

The second group is those who hate him. It is strange though. They seem to hate him for the wrong reasons. They seem to hate him for his name, the fact that his father was a Muslim and some hate him for his race. They use the issues to justify the hate, but at the end of the day, the root of the hate is religion and race.

This is strange, considering Barack Obama is Christian. His father was a Muslim who stopped following the faith and his mother was a white woman from Kansas. Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ and has been a member of that church much before he had aspirations of running for president.

I personally do not agree with all Obama's stances, but I still think it is unfair on him to hate him for the wrong reasons. I disagree with Obama's stance on immigration and think that even though the war in Iraq was uncalled for, withdrawing now would cause more harm than good. However I still do not hate Obama, or for that matter any of the presidential candidates. While I may not agree with some of their opinions, I defend their right to express them without having to hate them for it.

America was founded on some very unique principals. Freedom of speech and more importantly, freedom of thought. It is that reason why millions of people want to come here and thousands risk everything to do so. We should keep that in mind the next time we feel the need to hate someone for who they are or where they come from. If we are to get rid of this hate, it has to start with us.