After the tension and negativity of the longest presidential campaign season the world has ever known, the media is having some fun with the new President-elect.  Obama's promise to his daughters that they would get a new puppy if he won the White House has gotten more press than his appointment of Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff, or me as Rahm Emanuel's fluffer.  (Yes, you heard it here first.)  The whimsical issue of White House pet suits our national mood at this moment of utter relief that the nightmare of the Bush years is finally coming to an end.

The latest on the White House pet front: Obama joked about choosing a "mutt" like him.  The AP reported: "By now, almost everyone knows that Obama's mother was white and father was black, putting him on track to become the nation's first African-American president."  But it's equally true, and possibly more on-point, to note that Obama is the first mixed-race president.  Like a, um, "mutt."  Like he, um, said.

Of course, the "mixed-race" designation can be politically dicey.  And Obama himself has shied away from using it.  Mixed-race is not, after all, a voting bloc.  African-American is.  Cynicism aside, Obama is not unlike everyday, ordinary mixed-race people who more often than not get tossed in with their "minority" half by the dominant culture.  Until very recently, many mixed-race Americans with a Caucasian half felt they had little choice but to identify as "the other half," since white culture didn't always welcome them with open arms, and to identify as mixed-race opened them up to derogation from blacks, too. 

Tiger Woods has probably done more to bring the beauty and power of mixed-race to national consciousness just by being mixed-race and having extraordinary superpowers than anyone in recent memory.  He considers himself "cablinasian" a swirl of Caucasian, black, American Indian and Asian that has obviously produced a wunderkind.  He, not incidentally, coined the word "cablinasian" himself, essentially inventing his own race.  Why not?  More power to him, I say. I'm fabujewtalian, myself. 

But the rush to label Obama The First African-American President is understandable.  Looking backward, it is the climax of an extraordinary story, the likes of which we seldom see.  A heroic story that implicates us all in a victory for what's best in us and in our nation.  But looking forward, as the beginning of a new story, global in scope, the fact that he is mixed-race is at least as extraordinarily significant. 

As for the White House pet, if the Obamas really want to do something significant with this very important pick they will go with a mixed-breed big black dog (BBD) rescued from a DC shelter, highlighting the very real issue of "doggie discrimination."  It's called Black Dog Syndrome in the business.  "In shelters animals with black coats can be somewhat harder to adopt out — or to even get noticed," according to Kim Intino, the director of animal sheltering issues for the Humane Society.  "They're the hardest to adopt out, they're in the shelters the longest and therefore, they're most likely to be euthanized if nothing happens," Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Los Angeles, adds.

While "implicit dogism" can't be entirely ruled out, experts agree that the problem could be simple: "their black coats can make them invisible in poorly lit kennels."  And what better way to bring the problem to light than for the President of the United States, in this, the first, big test of his judgment, to take the bold step himself?  Will there be a price to pay?  Will the electorate back the choice of a black first family with a big black dog?  These are uncharted waters.

Americans are serious about their dogs.  And the First Pet is looked upon as a major clue to the reality of the First Family behind the veneer the PR people have whipped up for us.  When the Clintons came into office with Sox the cat and Buddy the chocolate lab in tow it seemed to confirm that we were dealing with a co-Presidency here.  Further, it was well-known, even at the time, that Sox and Buddy were mortal enemies, who inhabited separate wings of the White House.  Talk about pets resembling their owners.

The Bush's attack terrier, Barney, tells a different tale.  According to the White House, Barney "loves to play with his soccer ball, his golf ball and most recently has become a fan of playing horseshoes."  He and Miss Beazley scamper about, untroubled by the flailing economy, and occasionally biting members of the Press Corps.  Meanwhile the token feline, a black cat named Willie (a tribute, perhaps, to the man who won Bush pere the White House?), doesn't even merit a bio on the White House website. 

One thing's for sure, whatever the Obama's pick for First Pet, we should scrutinize it closely for clues to the President-Elect's secret allegiances and true ideology.  Which is another reason to choose a black dog.  For those worried that Obama is a secret Muslim, what better message to the contrary?  No less than the Prophet Mohammed himself, PBUH, reportedly said: "Were dogs not a species of creature I should command that they all be killed; but kill every pure black one." And according to Bukhari's Hadith: "The prophet did not order the killing of all the dogs, for some are to be retained for hunting and watching. He ordered to kill the jet black ones. They might be more mischievous among them."

So, Mr. President. I think the choice of color is clear and compelling.  But if you can't vet a suitable mutt in those ill-lit kennels, I would advise against the following breeds at all costs: Pit bull, Rottweiler, Doberman Pinscher.  Also, Greyhound and German Shepherd.  Likewise, I would steer clear of Chihuahuas, toy poodles, and Pomeranians. I don't know why — call it a funny feeling — I just would.

This pick will set the tone for your entire presidency.  Choose wisely.