Russia just elected its first black official. Commenter Tristan13 points us to this story, saying: "With all the race baiting going on lately, I found this story quite amusing." Yeah, but you know Andrew Breitbart's getting his smears ready.

According to the AP, Jean Gregoire Sagbo became the first black to be elected to office in Russia when he was elected as one of the city of Novozavidovo's 10 "municipal councilors." Sagbo is a native of Benin, but the Mayor of Novozavidovo says "his skin is black but he is Russian inside… the way he cares about this place, only a Russian can care."

Of course, he has been called "Russia's Obama," as any black person outside of Africa who achieves success in politics will be called "X's Obama" from now until America elects its second black president. (Or first female president—whatever comes first.) Anyway, congratulations Russia: You're only a few dozen years away from getting stuck in an intractable merry-go-round of race-baiting!