The NAACP has posted the respective responses by Sens. McCain and Obama to its “Civil Rights Questionnaire.”
First bat out of the box is “Affirmative Action,” and McCain quotes verbatim the categorical, no discrimination/no preference language from the ballot initiatives in Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska, which he recently endorsed. He notes, “The playing field is not level for everyone, but there are people of all colors and all groups at both ends of that field.”
Obama’s answer is, as usual, anything but categorical. “I support affirmative action,” since, “when properly structured, [it] can open opportunities otherwise closed to qualified minorities without having an adverse impact on the opportunities for whites,” and “I also support efforts to increase opportunities for qualified students from low-income backgrounds to attend colleges and universities — regardless of race.”
Lots of other interesting answers and contrasts in the questionnaire, on a wide variety of topics.