Modeling the Race Discussion

Mike Huckabee takes Obama's lead and continues to model for America how we can begin to talk about race in this country. Huckabee would have been so good, for the Republican party. I have immense respect for him. Here is what he said:

... One other thing I think we've got to remember: As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, "That's a terrible statement," I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I'm going to be probably the only conservative in America who's going to say something like this, but I'm just telling you: We've got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, "You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus." And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would, too. I probably would, too. In fact, I may have had a more, more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

Mike is also modeling for us exactly what Obama's speech implored us to do with regard to Rev. Wright and the issue of Race. We can't throw a person under the bus because of the way they express their feelings about race and justice based on their experiences. White or black. To do so would be to miss the point of Obama's speech on race. That's why Obama didn't disown Rev. Wright. He repudiates, disagrees with, and condemns Rev. Wright's statements, but he still loves him and accepts him as a mentor. Why, because four clips on YouTube don't make the sum total of a person who has dedicated forty years of serving Jesus on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised. And people who experienced a kind of racism that might be somewhat foreign to my generation still have the right to see the world through their experiences, even if that world has and continues to change.

Besides Christians shouldn't be so taken aback by Rev. Wright's statements. I mean have you read Amos or Jeremiah lately? They make Rev. Wright look like a softy.

Obama has kicked the race discussion to the next generation who has experienced a different society than the previous generation has with regard to gender and race. Regardless of what happens in this election, Obama has changed the frame work and ground rules of the discussion. What a great new place to be in. I couldn't be more proud to be supporting him for President. Who would have a thought, a national leader calling us to a nuanced and imperfect discussion on a difficult topic. Feels good to not have to be so "black and white."

Finally, Nicolas Kristof had this great line in his editorial:

What should draw much more scrutiny in this campaign than any pastor’s sermons is the candidates’ positions on education, health care and poverty — and their ability to put those policies in place. Cutting off health care benefits for low-income children strikes me as much more offensive than any inflammatory sermon.

I am eager for that debate between Obama and McCain.