So Much for 'Post Racial'

Eric Holder, the US attorney general, came under fire for this quote:

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial, we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards."

Rush Limbaugh, displaying his usual keen intellect, called these comments 'inexcusable', and in the very same show said, "People are scared to death to talk about race in this country, Mr. Attorney General, for fear of what's going to be said about them."

Ummm... Rush, if it's inexcusable, why did you say the same thing???

Meanwhile the reason for racial cowardice was amply demonstrated by the reaction to the New York Post, whose political cartoon depicted the recent shooting of a chimp by police, with the caption, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

Given that the stimulus bill was written by a bunch of white males, it is hard to imagine this as a racial comment. But emotions are not always rational, and since lots of people are easily manipulated, the opportunists are out in force.

Al Sharpton can be expected to participate. He dances on the logical tightrope necessary to reach an audience that understands the original intention of the cartoon: "Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama and has become synonymous with him, it is not a reach to wonder: Are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?"

But I am disappointed in the NAACP, whose chairman said, "It seemed to me, an invitation to assassination of the President of the United States, told in the crudest, most ugly way,". The only thing being assassinated here is the credibility of the NAACP, and that is very sad.