Bob Herbert’s latest column is, as usual, no model of clarity and logic, but his point seems to be that black pols need to be more willing to make racial appeals. If President Obama doesn’t start doing so, he warns, then black voters may become disenchanted with him, just as they became disenchanted with D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, who recently lost his reelection bid.
It’s too bad that Mayor Fenty lost, as Linda Chavez discusses here, but it would be a real shame if President Obama listened to Herbert. I am no fan of the president, but I have praised him for generally refusing to make the kind of racial appeals that Herbert, the Congressional Black Caucus, and others would have him make. Here’s hoping that continues.