Posted by
AJH on Sunday, March 08, 2009 6:26:50 AM
“
I think it’s fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language,” Obama said in an interview with The New York Times.
“We've made enormous progress and we shouldn't lose sight of that.”
I wish the president would say things like this more often.
However, “despite Mr. Holder’s choice of words, he had a point,” the president is reported to have said.
“We’re oftentimes uncomfortable with talking about race until there’s some sort of racial flare-up or conflict,” he said. “We could probably be more constructive in facing up to sort of the painful legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination.”
Who is this “we”? Often it is “uncomfortable” because the thought police are on patrol, ready to pounce on any person with fair skin who says anything out of the liberal mainstream of ideas, particularly that the nation needs to discriminate against the former “oppressors” to right the wrongs of the past.
Obama's timing is curious. He seems to let controversies flare up without addressing them until much, much later, when the news cycle is well past moving on to other stories. Is it part of a strategy? I highly doubt it, because who wants to draw more attention to gaffes and silly remarks?
The president said he is not someone who believes that constantly talking about race can solve racial tensions. To address that problem, it will mean fixing the economy, putting people to work, making sure that people have health care and ensuring that children are learning, Obama said.
“I think if we do that, then we'll probably have more fruitful conversations,” Obama said in the interview Friday aboard Air Force One.
AJH