Thursday, October 30, 2008

Re: Race and the Presidential Race   [Ed Whelan]

It turns out that I’m wrong to think that Obama’s election would have even symbolic benefit.  Hans Bader informs us that Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, “Obama’s top advisor on race issues, explains that since Obama is ‘biracial,’ his election won’t prove that racism has receded.   White America won’t vote for blacks, Ogletree argues, and Obama’s election is possible only because he’s partly white.” 

 

So, under Ogletree’s drop-of-blood test, if you’re one of those folks who mistakenly think that the cases for Obama and McCain are reasonably close, there’s no symbolic achievement in electing Obama.  You’d better wait for a real black candidate.  Thanks, professor.

 

Bader also points out that the “ABA Journal predicts that Ogletree, who has long advocated race-based reparations, will be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division during the Obama administration.”  Maybe race-based reparations will be another way to “spread the wealth”? 

10/30 12:51 PMShare