Race: The Pandora's Box

I guess I didn't understand just how gutsy Barack Obama's speech was until I saw the firestorm erupt afterwards. I remember Karl Rove being asked in his new analyst role what advice he would give Obama. He pointed out that he would not have advised him to make the speech about race. By bringing race into it, it is now there and it isn't going away. Race is one of those things you don't talk about as a politician because it never leads anywhere but bad places for you. It's like talking about previous relationships on a date. That is the albatross that the race speech has created for Obama, the pandora's box it just opened.

One of the biggest problems with the issue of race is once the pandora's box is opened everyone wants to give their opinion. Once everyone is embodened then who knows what will be said. For instance, Mary Mitchell of the Sun Times said that

Black people get it, White people don't, now let's move on

Charles Coulter said that

Enough! Attacks on Obama and Jeremiah Wright are ludicrous...

So the Rev. Jeremiah Wright made comments that some portray as hate-filled and anti-American.

So what? I think that's covered by something called the First Amendment.And some want Barack Obama to distance himself even further from his spiritual mentor. Why?Rev. Wright has not said anything that has not been said or is not being said in bars, poolrooms, barber shops, hair salons or anywhere more than three black people gather.

Let's face it, in the discussion of race, these are the voices that will likely come to the front. Frankly, whether or not the race baiters and flat out racists are the majority, they certainly yell the loudest. Whatever calm voices will be drowned out by the extremists. Don't forget that for every African American race baiter like Mary Mitchell there are dozens more at every water cooler that would never get paid for what they said but spout off as the White equivalent.

If Obama wanted to lead a national discussion on race, then he has gottent exactly what he wished for. I don't know who he thought was mostly going to follow him, but it really could never lead anywhere all that good politically. Now, he is stuck in the middle of a national conversaition on race and trying to do it as a candidate that was post racial. The likes of Mitchell and Coulter now feel empowered to say what they want as often as they want. I don't see how this scenario will define him by anything but race though.

In my response to Obama's speech, I pointed out that trying to be the post racial candidate and speaking so candidly about race would be a difficult needle to thread. That continues to be quite the understatement. For the indefinite future, I don't see him moving away or beyond it.