So, Obama called into the WIP sports show in Philadelphia--he answered some questions, impressed the hosts, and all seemed to be well. Until...
See this article.
This is the latest version of the "grandma under the bus". But I have this strange feeling about all those white people who are so darned defensive--I mean why? If they aren't racists themselves, they know it, and it wouldn't bother them, right? Right?
Obama has had some bracing words for blacks too, as I recall. Strangely, none of them seem to be vocally upset to be told that they need to put aside their old resentments and join with white people to try to solve their problems. They didn't seem overly upset when Obama told them in a speech in Texas to stop feeding their kids "cold Popeyes" for breakfast, even though many conscientious black parents don't, I'm sure, feed their kids cold Popeyes. But some have had plenty of words for Bill Cosby, even when others were quietly nodding along, so it's not as if this is only a white issue--just perhaps more of a white issue with Obama.
Which goes back to exactly why we have such trouble having an honest conversation about race in this country. There are a lot of people who want to leave things with "and my ancestors never owned slaves" or "I never called anyone a n@#@#" or "I don't even live in the South" and thus they don't need to examine anything about their own complicity in the sorry state of things. But then, there are a lot of people (of all races) who can't handle any criticism whatsoever. And a lot of them vote.
I'm just sort of venting here. But we need to get away from this "that jerk is attacking me" hypersensitivity. We have to look honestly at our shortcomings and how we can improve them before we can make any progress. But many people will go to their graves, it seems, before they can do that.