The Unease of Election ’08

(By Jay Nordlinger, National Review Online) - A friend sent me a piece at Slate.com, and it is really quite explicit: “If Obama Loses,” is the title. And the subtitle: “Racism is the only reason McCain might beat him.” And explicit is good in this case, as it so often is.

You might call what has been done here “laying the groundwork” — preparing for an Obama loss. If the worst should happen, and McCain wins, there will be only one explanation: racism. Everyone — at least every McCain voter — will have to wear a scarlet “R.” And so will the country at large.

Think, for a moment, about what this assertion does to black Americans. It says to them, along with everyone else, “If Obama loses, it won’t be because Americans again prefer a right-leaning Republican to a left-leaning Democrat. It will be because of the sin of racism — it will be because whites are anti-black.”

Is that a good belief to instill? Is it true? Will the age-old practice of grievance-stoking ever end? (No, of course not.)