A good piece in political history

Longreads

In the first four years as the first black president, Obama has largely avoided addressing race directly. Some historical context:

Thus the myth of ?twice as good? that makes Barack Obama possible also smothers him. It holds that African Americans—­enslaved, tortured, raped, discriminated against, and subjected to the most lethal homegrown terrorist movement in American history—feel no anger toward their tormentors. Of course, very little in our history argues that those who seek to tell bold truths about race will be rewarded. But it was Obama himself, as a presidential candidate in 2008, who called for such truths to be spoken. ?Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now,? he said in his ?More Perfect Union? speech, which he delivered after a furor erupted over Reverend Wright’s ?God Damn America? remarks. And yet, since taking office, Obama has virtually ignored race.

Whatever the…

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