Will Obama Presidency Signal End of Preferences?
In an interview with The Politico, Ward Connerly said he was hopeful that Barack Obama would support economic affirmative action and oppose race preferences.
“[Obama] is a very, very bright man who thinks through the nuances of issues and I cannot help believe he realizes the inherent flaw in race preferences. If you listen to him carefully, you cannot help but think he is really torn by this issue, and that he is leaning in the direction of socio-economic affirmative action instead of race preferences.”
Obama has hinted at supporting some form of economic affirmative action. During the campaign, he said that privileged children like his daughters didn’t need race preferences.
Perhaps the mere presence of a biracial man in the White House will get the country talking about whether race preferences make sense in 2008. If the majority of American voters are “tolerant” enough to elect a man like Obama, perhaps they’re ready to say race has no place in American life or law.
I don’t mean to be a spoil-sport or a pessimist, but I am not hopeful that an Obama presidency will do much to improve race relations in this country, nor will it signal the end of preferences. People will always look for the easy way out and put as little effort into improving themselves as possible. It’s much easier to point fingers, blame third parties, make excuses, and demand unearned benefits.
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Dan Collins
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I’d like to think that maybe that would be one of the results, La Shawn, but Charles Ogletree says that white people are only voting for Barack because he’s half white.
In a fairer world, I suppose, he would only have gotten half preferences.