A congressional sup****ter of Hillary Clinton has some novel arguments
against
Barack Obama, the Associated Press re****ts:
Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who is black, told Canadian
Broadcasting Cor****ation that Obama "is articulate. In the
black tradition, he would probably be mediocre."
"For White Americans, it's like, this guy can speak," Cleaver
said in the radio interview. "If you put him on a level with
a lot of other African-American public speakers, he may not
even measure up."
Usually we hear that it's invidious to call a black person "articulate"
because it implies that most blacks are inarticulate. Kudos to Cleaver to
turning the stereotype on its head. Cleaver goes on to predict that Obama
will
win both nomination and election, an outcome that makes him uneasy, again
for
counterintuitive reasons:
He claims much of the sup****t for Obama is driven by a
sense that his election will prove the country has solved
its problems with race.
"I think for many white Americans, they are looking at Barack
Obama and saying 'This is our chance to demonstrate that we
have been able to get this boogeyman called race behind us,' "
Cleaver said. "And so they are going to vote for him, whether
he has credentials or not, whether he has any experience--I
think all that's out the window."
Yet Cleaver asserts that Obama as president could actually
hamper efforts to curb racial injustice. He said future
concerns about race "would be met with rejection because
we've already demonstrated that we're not a racist nation."
Allow us to turn THIS on its head. What Cleaver seems to be saying is that
those who claim they want to "curb racial injustice" have an interest in
maintaining the perception that America is "a racist nation," regardless
of
whether that is true.
This is a game that no one can win. White guilt has been a powerful
cultural
force because it is rooted in history. But it seems destined to diminish
as
that history recedes. Encouraging blacks to think that racism is as strong
as
ever, meanwhile, promotes anger and defeatism--hardly a prescription for
successful integration.
--
It is simply breathtaking to watch the glee and abandon with which
the liberal media and the Angry Left have been attempting to turn
our military victory in Iraq into a second Vietnam quagmire. Too bad
for them, it's failing.
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