Leave it to Democrats to want to have a discussion about race in America without discussing the realities of race relations past and present.
The reactions to last week’s comments by Claire McCaskill on Barack Obama were great examples of liberals, particularly the liberal media, wanting to have it both ways. McCaskill commented honestly on the difference between Obama’s perspective in being a leader from the African-American community versus the perspectives of earlier people who were leaders in the African American Community.
McCaskill’s comments did not in any way demean earlier African-American leaders. At worst she left the insinuation that they were “victims”, but in many ways they were. Yes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others like him worked past that status to achieve great things, and should not be remembered as victims. But many of them did start as victims of various levels of racism.
While Obama may well have experienced some racism as well, he is not coming to the table with that as his agenda. Instead, his is a uniting message, for every community. Whether one supports Obama’s campaign or not, we should all recognize that his candidacy will raise issues, hopefully for the last time, about race.
Obama himself felt so strongly that the issue needed discussion that he devoted a full speech to it. So for people to hide from that discussion seems odd, especially in a party who claims to lead in finding solutions.
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