Sunday punditry, a bit more NN, and see you next year in Minneapolis!
Frank Rich:
This country was rightly elated when it elected its first African-American president more than 20 months ago. That high was destined to abate, but we reached a new low last week. What does it say about America now, and where it is heading, that a racial provocateur, wielding a deceptively edited video, could not only smear an innocent woman but make every national institution that touched the story look bad? The White House, the N.A.A.C.P. and the news media were all soiled by this episode. Meanwhile, the majority of Americans, who believe in fundamental fairness for all, grapple with the poisonous residue left behind by the many powerful people of all stripes who served as accessories to a high-tech lynching.
Maureen Dowd:
The Obama White House is too white.
It has Barack Obama, raised in the Hawaiian hood and Indonesia, and Valerie Jarrett, who spent her early years in Iran.
But unlike Bill Clinton, who never needed help fathoming Southern black culture, Obama lacks advisers who are descended from the central African-American experience, ones who understand "the slave thing," as a top black Democrat dryly puts it.
Kathleen Parker:
The current Journolist controversy that has the blogosphere heaving sparks and Washington even more self-absorbed than usual is weak tea -- a tempest in Barbie's teacup.
At least as concerns the so-called conspiracy itself.
As a larger lesson about the way we search and destroy each other in the political/media world, there may be something darker brewing.
Charles J. Ogletree Jr. and Johanna Wald:
President Obama has called and chatted with Shirley Sherrod. Tom Vilsack and Ben Jealous have issued heartfelt apologies. There is talk of a "Chardonnay summit" in the Rose Garden. The subtext to all this? Let's wrap up this incident quickly so we can all go on our vacations guilt-free, secure in the knowledge that our "post-racial society" remains intact.
Philip Rucker:
President Obama and other Democratic leaders appealed to a gathering of prominent liberal activists Saturday, seeking to win back a disenchanted constituency that appears uninterested in helping the party avoid large losses in November's midterm elections...
By the conference's close Saturday, liberals had swallowed a dose of reality from the Democratic Party's top officials. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) arrived Saturday with a blunt appeal: The gates to a progressive agenda have opened under Democratic control, she said, and they will close if Republicans seize power...
Nevertheless, Jones said it is "baffling" that liberals are mad at Obama. "When you guys get mad at the president, I can't stand it," Jones said. "Barack Obama, President Obama, volunteered to be the captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg."
It was enough to placate some. Michael Lyons, 59, a software manager from Oswego, Ore., said: "This is a wake-up call for the progressives to snap out of it and get back on track. We have to get that drive back, that enthusiasm back."