Did you catch this? A few weeks ago, Shelby Steele made a good point concerning Barack Obama's appeal to whites:
"How to turn one's blackness to advantage? The answer is that one "bargains." Bargaining is a mask that blacks can wear in the American mainstream, one that enables them to put whites at their ease. This mask diffuses the anxiety that goes along with being white in a multiracial society. Bargainers make the subliminal promise to whites not to shame them with America's history of racism, on the condition that they will not hold the bargainer's race against him. And whites love this bargain -- and feel affection for the bargainer -- because it gives them racial innocence in a society where whites live under constant threat of being stigmatized as racist. So the bargainer presents himself as an opportunity for whites to experience racial innocence."
Yes. And, I would add, perhaps Obama offered, to middle-of-the-road Americans, what they perceived as a chance to atone for what they saw as any past racism of their own.
Steele then goes on to point out that this is why the Jeremiah Wright story presented Obama with such danger--it imperiled his "bargain" with whites; he no longer looked like the one able to present whites with innocence.
But, again I must tell conservatives: Obama's a tough cookie. He appears to have weathered the Wright storm. I don't think the right will get far beating that dead horse. If some Americans are determined to use Obama to atone for their perceived racist pasts, it will be tough to stop them. Now what we CAN do is point out this fundamental: the presidency in this day and age is a pretty important job, facing important issues. Your vote for it shouldn't be used to exorcise past demons. You want redemption for the racial slurs you said when you were younger? Then go out and do things in your community, go out and demonstrate judging people on the content of their character, not the color of their skin, in your daily life. But meanwhile, when it comes to voting for president, vote on the issues and on the candidates. Nothing more, nothing less.
