As Michelle Obama continues her "make-over" tour, jumping from an appearance on The View's coffee klatch to the cover of glossy Us Weekly (story title: "Why Barack Loves Her"), it's clear that we haven't really progressed much in the past two decades. Educated, outspoken, potential first-ladies frighten Americans today as much as they did when "scary feminist" Hillary Rodham Clinton first blazed the path from the corner office to the campaign trail.

Voters are suspicious of influential spouses—period (think Eleanor Roosevelt or Bill Clinton during the primaries). Still, every election is different and this one has the special spice of race. Though Barack Obama is the first black candidate on a major party ticket, he has one advantage that his wife does not—he's the bi-racial son of an African immigrant, while she is the daughter of African-American parents descended from slaves. And research demonstrates that white people tend to favor black immigrants over African Americans whose ancestors have been here for hundreds of years.

Prominent researchers like Nancy Foner, George Fredrickson, and Mary Waters, who study the integration patterns of black immigrants, have observed that white people seem more at ease with black immigrants than they do with other African Americans. Their research notes that black immigrants are usually described as "more polite, less hostile, more solicitous, and easier to get along with." Some of this is likely due to real cultural or socioeconomic differences (for example, Africans who immigrate to the U.S. tend to be highly educated, on average). However, there's no getting around the fact that we live in a country with a profound history of racial turmoil and that prejudice against African Americans persists in contemporary society.

The "preference" for black immigrants over other African Americans is perhaps most pronounced on our nation's prestigious college campuses, where a controversial debate has erupted about the overrepresentation of black students from immigrant backgrounds (as opposed to those whose ancestors have been here for hundreds of years). In the February 2007 issue of the American Journal of Education, researchers at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania published findings from surveys given to 1,051 black freshmen at 28 selective colleges. They found that 27 percent of African-American students were first or second generation immigrants, which is more than double the national average for all blacks ages 18-19. The percentage of immigrants was even more pronounced at the four Ivy League schools included in this study (Princeton, Yale, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania), where 41 percent of students were first or second generation immigrants. These numbers do not include international students who identify as black.

Why are black immigrants so overrepresented on selective campuses? While it's true that black immigrants are more likely to have higher grades and test scores (as I noted, their parents tend to be more educated), the authors of the study also conclude that admissions officers may be subconsciously selecting applicants with the "sociable qualities" that they more readily perceive in immigrants over other African-American students. We can't be certain of the degree to which this bias may play a role in college admissions decisions, but it's also hard to ignore previous research that demonstrates that white people find black immigrants more "likeable."

In researching my book, Fat Envelope Frenzy, I followed five different students navigating the selective college admissions process. One of the students was Ethiopian-American, grappling with the implications of his heritage on affirmative action policies. He often talked about how he couldn't relate to the other African-American students at his Memphis high school, but he also emphasized that he didn't think that race was such a big deal. "When was the last time someone was awarded a Nobel Prize because of their race?" he once asked me, rhetorically.

If only it were that simple. It would be nice if science was objective, but the ugly truth is that scientists have contributed to racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and every other possible prejudice throughout history. Sure, no one is given a Nobel Prize simply because they are white, black or brown. But that didn't stop James Watson, who won the Nobel for his work on DNA, from claiming that black people are "less intelligent" than white people just last year.

Though Barack Obama has suffered his fair share of background-based biased attacks (He's a Muslim! He hates Jews! He'll let Iran nuke Israel!), until the Jeremiah Wright hullabaloo, he was thought of as "not black" or "not black enough." Even with her two Ivy League degrees and Jackie O hair-do, there was never that kind of debate over Michelle's racial identity. The barely restrained racism directed at her in the press is practically old news, from the covert conspiracy theories of "respectable" writers like Christopher Hitchens—who basically blamed Michelle for the Wright controversy because she wrote her 1985 Princeton undergraduate thesis about "Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community"—to the total tackiness of Fox News referring to her as Barack's "baby mama."

With her South Side upbringing and dark complexion, Michelle is "black enough"—unlike her husband—and maybe that's part of the reason that she isn't as popular.

Steven Colbert Breaks Down Race Barriers: He exemplifies SWPL #14, while I show off #35 Got an ethnic or sexual identity? If so, then according to the Internet, you probably like stuff. Ever since Stuff White People Like became an overnight sensation, bloggers from all across the identity spectrum have been eager to put in their own two cents about, well, what stuff their people like. Any trendspotter now knows that when a few other people of the same race or sexual orientation like things, a website is the next inevitable phase. Just in case you don’t know how, for instance, your young Jewish adult friend might feel about you inviting her to a game of ultimate frisbee (LOVES it), or are in the mood for some awkward stereotype-based humor, here’s a roundup of some more stuff people like:

• For the temple youth group crowd, there’s Stuff Young Jewish Adults Like: (surprisingly?) similar to white people. Likes include Ironic Jewish Themed t-shirts, Isla Fisher, NPR, Taking Christ’s name in vain. My guess? The name of the blog is too unhip to have been written by a real “young Jewish Adult.” But I sort of want to own that T-shirt.

• Stuff Black People Like is currently under construction and is operating in the meantime in blog form. Visitors to the site can learn about how much Black people love talent shows, Black Jesus, using the word “conversate,” “yo mama” jokes, and revolution, or they can participate in the ongoing discussion about what it means to be “Blaucasian.”

• If you are educated, Black, and feel that Stuff Black People Like does not represent your interests, you might find a cozy pigeon hole over at Stuff Educated Black People Like. This group digs wine and cheese affairs, Oprah, mega churches, jazz, fraternities and sororities, advanced degrees, poetry slams, CNN, and moving to Atlanta.

• Time to take it over to the Asian crowd with Stuff Asian People Like! I’ve got to say, this list reminds me of a lot of non-Asian people I know. According to the site, Asians are heavy into Dance Dance Revolution, higher education, house hunting, cutting in line, nagging, fortune cookies, eye enlargement, white girls, white guys, and peace signs.

SNbL #15 - The "Grocer's Apostrophe": Nobody likes faulty punctuation • If you are of South Asian descent and hate DDR, you are in luck! Thanks to Stuff Desis/Brown People Like, you can finally have a forum to discuss you love of Niagra Falls, chai, Desi-White couples, staring, masters degrees, bargain hunting, friends, and cricket.

• For the LGBTQ crowd, don’t fret: you’ve got a site too! Stuff Queer People Like is the place to share your love of having emotionally unstable childhood best friends, finding excuses to wear short shorts, reading Queer subtext into things that are not actually Queer, and my personal favorite, off color humor as told by awkward white women.

The good news is that the trend seems to have run its course. Introducing the meme-ending Stuff Nobody Likes. Because no matter who you are, you definitely hate herpes, the G train, pedophiles, comic strips that don’t know when to quit, and “e-Mail ~~ FWDs!!!!!!!!!!111!!!”.

Two old friends from Hebrew School: OK, I don't know that for a fact, but they COULD beStuffWhitePeopleLike.com gets the Nerve treatment:

I drink too much bottled water (#76). I wear overpriced vintage t-shirts (#84), loved studying abroad (#72) and stand completely still at concerts (#67). I'm a fan of Michel Gondry (#68), Apple products (#40) and Stephen Colbert (#35). I've threatened to move to Canada on more than one occasion (#75). And I don't mind that StuffWhitePeopleLike.com — a blog that lampoons the over-educated yuppies and hipsters who populate the nation's trendy urban centers and mixed-use development zones — pinpoints me with such eerie accuracy, assessing my predilections like a gifted psychic reader. The site is a fairly amusing send-up of the slightly embarrassing, clearly predictable culture I'm a part of.

But the fact that it also describes virtually my entire dating history — that really unnerves me. When I moved to New York, I imagined my dating repertoire would reflect the diversity of a Barack Obama rally (#8). But this doesn't happen, or at least, it didn't for me. I ended up dating exactly the people StuffWhitePeopleLike.com depicts: other white people who'd come to New York lusting after authenticity, ponying up their ample disposable income to purchase something that feels like "the real thing." People like me who moved here to drink from some mystical font of urban cultural capital, then just kept on dating within the tight-jean pool.

This strikes me as incredibly central to all the hand-wringing about intermarriage. Because while the Jewish community at large is busy panicking about young Jews marrying out, the truth is that “out” is a lot more complicated than anyone is willing to admit, at least if you’re not going by strict Halachic law.

The most modern argument against intermarriage goes like this: “But honey, you’ll just be so much happier with someone who shares your culture.” Certainly this is a lot easier to digest than “But honey, God doesn’t like his people as much as He likes our people.” And in a less secular country, maybe it would make sense.

The truth is, though, that unless you’re fairly observant, “your culture” probably doesn’t have that much to do with your Judaism. In fact, for many Jews, “your culture” is just the culture of all privileged, college-educated creative types—the white people of StuffWhitePeopleLike. And if what you want is someone who shares your love of sushi, indie rock, and Michel Gondry, there’s no reason to hang out at Jewish singles events. All you really need to do is go stand in front of Whole Foods.