Is Spike Lee Racist?

IF Goethe was right when he said that “a clever man commits no minor blunders,” then someone in the Bush White House may be poised to go down as one of the most brilliant men in the history of the Republic.

It was just one of several ideas attached to the White House’s Communities of Character initiative—but it was an idea so stupid, so rich with the potential for shot feet, so pregnant with the promises of stuttering Republicans, and so devoid of an upside as to make Mrs. Lincoln’s night at the theater look like a truly enjoyable evening, that it is difficult to imagine that anyone meant it seriously: The White House wants to get into the movie-reviewing business. More specifically, it wants to promote movies that (in the words of the Washington Post) “do not further racial stereo-types.”

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Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg is a National Review contributing editor.

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IF Goethe was right when he said that “a clever man commits no minor blunders,” then someone in the Bush White House may be poised to go down as one of the most brilliant men in the history of the Republic.

It was just one of several ideas attached to the White House’s Communities of Character initiative—but it was an idea so stupid, so rich with the potential for shot feet, so pregnant with the promises of stuttering Republicans, and so devoid of an upside as to make Mrs. Lincoln’s night at the theater look like a truly enjoyable evening, that it is difficult to imagine that anyone meant it seriously: The White House wants to get into the movie-reviewing business. More specifically, it wants to promote movies that (in the words of the Washington Post) “do not further racial stereo-types.”