Cobb

I have a rule about presidential candidates: I discount everything they say after they announce they're running. Everything after that point is marketing rather than politics. With that said, I'm still pretty strong for Dean; he's got a good track record as governor and no obvious downside, which is more than you can say for the rest of them.

I don't think his foreign 'policy' would be good for any of us. I can agree with your comment

"What I don't want to hear are words to the effect that 'If Dean is elected president, it will be good for African Americans'..."

for that reason alone.

I hope when Dean talks to those white people, he can reduce the 70% illegitimacy rate among african americans, and reduce the black on black crime. I hope he can talk to them so persuasively, that black kids will stop thinking that doing well in school is "acting white."

Talk to those white people, Dean, yeah.

Whitefolks need talking to

I read this blog and you seem like a reasonable guy and then you cough up something like this. I'm disappointed.

But what the hell ... if you had five bullet points to tell white folks in this needed "talk", what would they be?

I'm not one of those 'afflict the comfortable' folks, but perhaps you should take precisely the hint I suggested and read Stephen L. Carter.

Do whitefolks need to know nothing anyone else can teach them or are they already too superior for that?

Other than that, everything I have to say about race, I say at the Race Man's Home Companion. The very first question I ask whitefolks is Why Are You White?

So tell me.

It's more a language issue. Children need a talking to. White folks don't think of themselves as a bunch of errant children needing a lecture from adult members of the black community.

So you disassociate yourself, as a white person from what RB said above?

I wrote a long response, but it got lost because of my own clumsiness with the keyboard. I'm at work so I can't re-write it now.

The basic point was:
1. Who does anything "as a white person"?
2. RB's remarks were over-the-top, yes.

Well, Dean is talking about race as a white person to whitefolks. He claims to be the first presidential candidate to do so. He very well may be, especially considering the angle, which is not in favor of racial solidarity against another race, rather an anti-racist message. This is commendable, and if RB is part of the problem, I think it's rather clear that he doesn't think blackfolks have anything to tell him that he need respect. So who's going to do it? Whitefolks, as whitefolks.

It's as simple as that. What do whitefolks do to end white supremacy in politics? It's a question that has to be asked and most people have to think twice to come up with a clear answer.

Well, if Yalie / Park Avenue / Vermont Governor Howard Dean really thinks he needs to educate white folks about racism, he has his head up his ass. Wow, he roomed with blacks at Yale. Once he was in a room with all black people. Big deal. I noticed he got his ass to lily white Vermont quick enough afterward.

Howard Dean doesn't have a base to have anything to educate white folks about. It's typical white liberal condescension. When many of us hear this kind of talk -- and there's been a lot of it, there's nothing unique here -- we check our wallet and check to see where someone wants to bus our kids. Howard Dean and his family are unlikely to be impacted by anything he says or does about race. But the white working class will -- and they'll be the same people who get called racist if they complain about it.

I'm not sure what you mean about ending white supremacy in politics. Where there's competence, race is not an issue.

Well that's where you're blind Bill,
surely you haven't forgotten about Trent Lott and the CCC. Surely you haven't forgotten about
Shoshana Johnson.

Whether or not it's true in the majority of cases, the Republican party has a long way to go to remove the perception among African American voters that their party is not the party of comfort for white racists. I've discounted that already and have decided for myself that even if it is the case, the Republican party is worth supporting and joining. But my stomach is stronger than that of the average bear.

The Republican party is not integrated, and there is a long line of sad stories from blacks who have tried to advance into its leadership. Right now integration is all about attrition and patience. That could be speeded up.

I don't give Dean much more credit than you. But that doesn't change the fact that he is right on this message. There are indeed plenty of whitefolks more qualified to say and teach what he is saying and trying to integrate into his campaign. Any credible anti-racist activist will know exactly where Dean is getting his ideas and why he's saying things the way he is saying them. He has appropriated some state-of-the-art rhetoric, not pulled it out of his voluminous butt.

But as with Clinton, the proper words are not sufficient. Bush proves that they're not even necessary. Action. Action. Action.