Legal Commentary

Beldar's one-paragraph, one-picture reaction to Obama's speech on Rev. Wright and racism

By Beldar

In his speech yesterday on racial matters in Philadelphia, the supposedly "post-racial" candidate of the 21st Century revealed himself to be as fully immersed in ? and therefore constrained by and a prisoner of ? identity-based politics as any traditional Democratic candidate who's ever lived, breathed, and pandered. The "solutions" offered by this speech and his candidacy could equally well have been proposed by, for example, Lyndon Johnson in 1964 or Walter Mondale in 1984 or Al Gore in 2000. Throughout his candidacy, there has indeed been a youthful spring in Barack Obama's step, a hypnotic cadence in his voice, and a vigor in his shaken fist as he has continued to lead his adherents ? boldly, onward and upward, to turn a new corner! The problem is, each corner Obama is leading them around is only part of an Escher Staircase, no more than an elegant illusion. The only way off of that staircase is to recognize, and conform one's beliefs and conduct and words to, the transcendent truth about race and racism in modern America: To end racial discrimination, we have to stop discriminating on the basis of race. Obama does not get that.

(Original image © M.S. Escher 1960, "Ascending & Descending"; this altered version is intended only for purposes of fair-use political commentary and satire, not for commercial purposes.)

Full post as published by BeldarBlog on March 19, 2008 (boomark / email).