It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time not that long ago when most Americans couldn’t vote.

Women, for example, have been allowed to step into the ballot booth for only the past 88 years.

Black men have been voting longer, but not by much. The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave them the right to vote in 1870, almost 100 years later than their white counterparts.

But, oh, look at us now. We’re making up for lost time. Now Democrats have a choice of backing either a black man or a woman for the White House.

You would think people would be ecstatic.

Instead, we’re eating each other alive.

In some circles, the choice is simple. If you’re a woman, you should vote for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. If you’re black, you should vote for Sen. Barack Obama. Voting any other way makes you a traitor.

Two intensely felt “isms” – racism and sexism – are feuding in a new kind of battle royal. The very prejudice that was defeated in giving blacks and women the right to vote is now rearing its ugly head again, but in a new, politically correct version.

Black women face an especially challenging choice. When Oprah Winfrey announced her support of Obama this year and campaigned with him, some women labeled her a “traitor” for betraying her gender.

“I cannot believe that women all over this country are not up in arms over Oprah’s backing of Obama,” wrote one woman on Oprah’s Web site.

Black men are getting it, too. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., told the online newsmagazine Politico that black superdelegates who supported Clinton were being “targeted, harassed and threatened.”

Cleaver, a superdelegate and Clinton supporter, said they had received nasty letters, phone calls, threats they’ll get opponents and comparisons to “Uncle Tom.”

Women, conversely, are supposed to support Hillary. And so are white men who have supported women’s rights. The New York state chapter of the National Organization for Women criticized Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., for endorsing Obama over Clinton.

“Women have forgiven Kennedy, stuck up for him, stood by him,” the group said in a statement. “And now the greatest betrayal! We are repaid with his abandonment! He’s picked the new guy over us.”

What happened to being able to vote for a candidate based on the issues?

During the course of this crazy campaign, both candidates have come under fire for “not being (fill in the blank) enough.” For Obama, it was not being “black” enough. For Clinton, it was not being “female” enough.

Now all of a sudden, they’re black and female, and how. And for some people, the election has come down to all about race or sex: Pick one.

And I suppose all veterans have to support Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee?

I will readily admit that I have voted for candidates based solely on their gender. The number of women in legislatures and the judiciary is woefully inadequate. When I don’t see a profound difference on the issues, I often pick a woman in those races because she is a she. I don’t apologize for that.

And I would love to see a woman president. I can’t wait. But I don’t want to feel pressured to vote for the female candidate because I am a woman. And blacks shouldn’t have to feel their choice is only skin deep.

We should be able to pick candidates based on their stand on the issues, ideas, values and voting record, not on their race, gender and religion.

Calling people traitors because they vote their consciences and not their skin color or sex is like resurrecting a softer version of the same prejudices that not so long ago kept us from voting at all.

We waited too long to get here to make the choice just black or white, male or female.