From a reader re my post on Beck and racism:

Dear Jonah,
I don’t know what to think.
One can’t say Obama has a deep-seated love for white people either. He seems to have a deep-seated ambivalence towards white people and certainly a great tolerance for listening to others say terrible things about white people.
It’s remarkable that it is so hard to know what Obama really thinks and feels about anything.

I agree with this entirely. Obama does have a tolerance for people who say terrible things about white people, at least in the case of Jeremiah Wright.

But here’s the thing: I confess to having a deep-seated ambivalence toward white people too. I love the American people, but the American people are hardly monochromatic. I have a great fondness for certain (mostly) white nationalities — I really like the Brits, for instance. I’m pretty keen on the Hebrews. But even there, skin color is hardly determinative or even interesting. I don’t swell with pride — or any other emotion — when it comes to white people qua white people. Sure, if the question is “Who has two thumbs and loves Western Civilization?” the answer is: “This guy!” But that’s something different, at least in my book.

Anyway, I just thought “deap-seated ambivalence toward white people” was an interesting formulation. I may use it as my facebook status for a while.