Race & Yesterday

A vigorous debate took place this morning among the cable news
squawkers about whether the results of yesterday’s election signal a sea-change in America’s attitudes toward race. Tucker Carlson claimed on MSNBC that it was "insulting" to suggest that America passed a moral test by voting for Obama, it being implied, he thought, that we would have failed that test if McCain had won.

Tucker’s logic is flawed. If America had voted for McCain, it may not have been because of Obama’s race, but it would have been hard to know. What we know with certainty this morning is that Obama’s race did not stand in the way and in that sense America did pass an important moral test. Racism is the besetting sin of American history. Perversely enshrined in our founding documents, it bedeviiied the early progress of the nation and brought about a bloody civil war, which spawned a legacy of hate that reached its climax just forty years ago. One could argue that Obama was the wrong choice for any number of reasons. But in making that choice Americans revealed themselves to be a people who have come to terms with their distinctly original sin and made possible a new moment of reconciliation.