No, not that a dude named "Barack" could conceivably become president: Many people, however reluctantly, have already accepted that possibility -- especially after surviving a president named "George."

The clearest sign that this is a new day in America is the reaction of people who call themselves social conservatives to the news that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old, unwed daughter is with child.

The near-universal response? T'aint nobody's business.

What? No "baby mama" jokes? No "What a shame"?

There has been very little condemnation of Palin's parenting abilities or of the moral breakdown of her family. Nor should there be.

Imagine, though -- and it'll require a strong stomach to imagine this -- what the response from that segment would be if Barack Obama had a 17-year-old daughter who turned up in a family way without benefit of marriage.

Don't look at me like that; you know it would get mighty ugly.

For instance, when I heard Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., refer to Bristol Palin's pregnancy as a "family issue," I near-about dropped my beer -- first, because it is a family issue and it's unusual to hear Burr sound so sensible, but second because I'm cringing at his presumed response had Barack been daddy to an unmarried, pregnant daughter.

When Grover Cleveland was running for president, word got out that the bachelor Democrat had fathered a child. The Republicans came up with the ditty,

Ma, ma, where's my pa?

Gone to the White House,

Ha ha ha.

Some stories say that last line was actually the Democrats' response after Cleveland won.

Regardless, that would sound like a Mother Goose nursery rhyme if, say, instead of Palin's daughter Bristol and her beau Levi, the potential First Daughter involved were named Shaniqua and her dude Daquan.

Ma, ma, where's my grandpa?

He's at the White House

Chillin' with his homeys

And sippin' on a 40,

Ha ha ha.

Of course, why go back 124 years to see a double standard?

Take the Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- please, because it turns out Palin may have her own example of what people are calling a "pastor disaster."

The Rev. Ed Kalnins, pastor at Palin's home church, reportedly said anyone who opposes President Bush is going to hell and anyone who supported John Kerry is, too. I say "reportedly" because clips of his sermons apparently have vanished from the Internet.

Burr, in 2006, voted against an amendment that would have provided money for sex education and contraceptives -- both of which would reduce pregnancy among unwed teens.

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, 750,000 American teens become pregnant each year, and teen pregnancy rates are twice as high as in England and Wales or Canada, and eight times as high as in Japan.

Denying teens access to education or contraception doesn't seem to be working, does it, Richard?

Some may say that the open-minded outlook expressed by Burr and others toward Bristol and Levi's upcoming parenthood is evidence of a new enlightenment, of a live-and-let-live, nonjudgmental GOP.

Get real. You know as well as I that they'll jump astride their hypocritical horse of morality as soon as a Democrat is caught in a similar, politically embarrassing family position.

Ain't that a shame?

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