31/10/2008

A 'Merely' Biracial Breakthrough?

By Tobin Harshaw

“Even if you vote for Obama, you’re still probably a racist, according to Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, in his remarks at a recent panel discussion at my alma mater,” writes Hans Bader at the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s OpenMarket.org.

Ogletree, Obama’s top advisor on race issues, explains that since Obama is ‘biracial,’ his election won’t prove that racism has receded. White America won’t vote for blacks, Ogletree argues, and Obama’s election is possible only because he’s partly white. The ABA Journal predicts that Ogletree, who has long advocated race-based reparations, will be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division during the Obama administration.

(Audiotape available here.)

“It turns out that I’m wrong to think that Obama’s election would have even symbolic benefit,” writes a riled-up Ed Whelan at the Corner.

“So, under Ogletree’s drop-of-blood test, if you’re one of those folks who mistakenly think that the cases for Obama and McCain are reasonably close, there’s no symbolic achievement in electing Obama. You’d better wait for a real black candidate. Thanks, professor. … Maybe race-based reparations will be another way to ’spread the wealth’?”

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Now this sounds more like Brazilian race relations - they'll be talking about the 'mulatto escape hatch' next - SG

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