MLK Day brought some curious comments from two Democrats speaking to black audiences. One comment's daft, the other despicable. Shortly after saying that the hurricane was God's retribution for Iraq (echoing an identical statement from al Qaeda), New Orleans Mayor Nagin said that God wants New Orleans to remain mostly black. "This city will be chocolate at the end of the day," he said. And thus concludes the black community's long search for Dr. King's successor.
"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." - Frederick Douglass"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
- Martin Luther King, Jr."This city will be chocolate at the end of the day."
- Ray Nagin
And then along came Hillary. To make the point that the Republican House leadership has stifled debate, Clinton invoked slave ownership. In her speech in Harlem, Clinton, who has never served in the House, told the audience that "when you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about."
No. We don't. Help me understand. Explain the analogy, and please use small words. Debate-stifling on a plantation? What the hell are you babbling about? Tell me you didn't just inform the descendants of slaves that their ancestors' suffering is analagous to politicians' being marginalized by parliamentary procedures. It's a sad, weird MLK day when Bob Jones-lovin', affirmative action opposin', insincerity-spewin' Republican politicians sound more like MLK than do his supposed supporters.
I've joked that my political philosophy is defeatest but simple: "Democrats are incompetent, and Republicans are evil." But with Hillary reaching across the aisle like this, I may have to rethink.