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December 20, 2002, 12:15 p.m. Out Trent Lott does the right thing. By NRO Staff

e won't quite give him a NRO "Thank you," but Trent Lott belatedly did the right thing. It's incredibly hard for a politician to give up a position that was the pinnacle of his career, especially in the face of an assault that he — and probably a majority of his colleagues — thought was unfair.

Give him credit as well for not resigning his seat, although we never thought that was likely. He's basically a loyal party man.

As for the succession, we're agnostics.

We were glad to welcome Bill Frist off the MIA list yesterday, but are open to other candidates. Our guess at first blush, however, is that the Frist forces were confident that they had the votes mostly lined up before they went live yesterday.

Our message to Frist, if he gets the post, would be:

1) Don't become such a Senate deal-cutter that you ignore the broader interests of conservatives and your party;

2) We have been very critical of Senate parochialism in recent days, but the White House isn't always right and it is important that a Majority Leader simply not take orders;

3) One final reminder: The racial-grievance lobby does not represent the broad interests of Americans black or white, and don't be afraid to say that (remember the "F," no doubt the only one you have ever gotten in your life, that the NAACP recently gave you).

Despite Lott's ultimately unforgivable gaffe (not just the words themselves, but the way he didn't understand their significance), the chief irritant in racial relations in the U.S. remains the cynical sowing of racial discord that Democrats engage in every election year.

We hope any new GOP Majority Leader can bring the kind of moral self-confidence necessary to defend his party against the race-baiters.