Can She Dance? Why Bristol Palin Must Go

So I'm watching last week's episode of "Dancing with the Stars" when host Tom Bergeron announces the two contestants with the lowest number of votes. I say to myself, "Bristol Palin better be one of the two.". She is, but so is Kurt Warner, a former quarterback with the National Football League's St. Louis Rams and, most recently, the Arizona Cardinals. I sit on the edge of my love seat, waiting for Bergeron to utter Palin's name. But to my dismay, it is Warner who gets the boot, leaving Palin on the show to dance another day.

But can she dance?

I don't think so. But these are the words of a man with two left feet. I do know Rick Fox can dance. Even Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino can dance.  But, like Warner, Fox and Sorrentino were handed their walking papers, while Bristol Palin's hopes for an upset victory remain alive. I'm sure Fox and Sorrentino are sitting home scratching their heads, probably wondering how they were upstaged by a self-proclaimed "teen advocate."

I believe Bristol Palin's staying power on "Dancing with the Stars" has a lot to do with who her mother is, and that's not saying much. Former Alaskan governor turned political celebrity Sarah Palin has been spotted in the stands cheering her daughter on. I applaud Sarah for being so supportive of her daughter, but even she must see that Bristol's staying power has nothing to do with her ability to dance.

If anything, Bristol Palin remains on the show because supporters of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement are seemingly casting their votes in a concerted attempt to make a statement. The question on the table: Who wields the real power, the Republicans or the Democrats?

Based on the 2010 midterm election results, it is easy to think this power now lies in the hands of the Republicans. Their candidates managed to reclaim the House of the Representatives. But I am disappointed in the way they secured their victories. Instead of offering up real solutions to common problems, they targeted the reputation and credibility of the man that we, the American people, elected to presidential office, Barack Hussein Obama.

The Tea Party, and the Republican Party by association, accused President Obama of not being an American citizen. Their members spent the past two years asking for a birth certificate that had already been presented to them and the American public. One lady, an elderly, Caucasian one, even had the audacity to exclaim, "We need to take our country back!"

From what?

Barack Obama?

Or black people?

That one statement told me how far our citizenry has come in regards to race relations, but it also told me how far we have yet to go. But what surprised me is how television and print journalists just allowed this racist statement and countless others to go unchecked. If they had been more responsible by asking the hard questions of those persons uttering seemingly racist sentiments, doors may have been opened for more heartfelt conversations about race. But this opportunity was squandered because their executives pitted black against white rather than use the moment to help this country heal further from its racist past. To them, the perpetuation of this never-ending race war was more newsworthy.

What do you think?

I look forward to reading your responses.