tall, pale and handsome

I've never been to a country where darker is better.. even Liberia, where mixed-race ex-American slaves dominated politics for 150 years.

Dark-skinned Thais are similarly discriminated against here in the Land of Smiles, to the point where ads for "skin-lightening cream" instead of suntan lotion are ubiquitous, Thais are rarely caught in the sun without an umbrella and it's not unusual to see Thais swimming at the beach fully clothed.

On that note, found this delightful article yesterday:

Farmers, fishermen, urban laborers, rubber tappers and those just "born that way" celebrated wildly yesterday throughout Thailand as the United States elected its first African-American president, Barack Obama.

The victory has inspired Thais ostracized for having dark skin.

Farmers in Khon Kaen gathered at the rice field of Krit Leerasuk to drink rice whiskey and discuss years of hardship caused by a culture that idealizes white skin as beautiful.

"Barack number one," said Krit. "I not ashamed to go to massage parlor in town anymore," he said proudly.

Out at sea in the Gulf of Thailand, a fisherman on the Suriyothai IV welled up with tears as he remembered the first time a school classmate pointed at him and shouted "khon pue dum." "I will find that guy and tell him to kiss my black ass," he promised.

On plantations in Yala, rubber tappers were seen torching bottle of whitening cream and other cosmetics.

In Bangkok, however, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat assured the capital's Chinese business community, blue bloods and other elites that Obama's historic victory would not affect the country centuries-old custom of belittling and denying opportunities to those countrymen with darker skin.

"We will continue to prefer the whitest men and women in television, film and bed," he said.

"As for democracy, yes, we still want that," he added.

Only after the Somchai quote did I realize this was satire.

Too bad really. This sounds a lot like most Thai journalism I read and the quotes sound a lot like what I've heard from Bangkok's fleet of poor, dark-skinned taxi drivers."You like Obuhmaaah?"

Guess the world can't be saved in just one term. Obama/Biden 2012!