So Much For Reconciliation

So nice to see that we as a society are beyond all that racist business, now that Barack Obama is president.

Well, except for a few small items:

- When George W. Bush was introduced at the Inauguration, he was loudly and lustily booed by most of the audience, predominantly by African Americans. It didn't stop there. They also lustily booed Dick Cheney, Lynn Cheney and - that polarizing figure - Laura Bush.

- The black minister who gave the ending prayer praised black people, brown people, red people and yellow people, and made it all rhyme. Then he got to white people, and in verse, demanded that "white finally get it right". He was roundly praised for his even handed treatment.

- On to the Inauguration Balls. Rapper Little JeeZee praised the Arab journalist for throwing shoes at Mother Effing George Bush, and praised the Mother Effing movers who moved the Bush's out of the White House, crying "get out Bitch". Then, Jay Z (husband to Beyonce), declared that the "White House is black now, no more White Lies", along with several other choice and racially charged comments.

How does Obama react to overtly racist comments and actions, inasmuch as he is himself half-white? Would it be too much for me to expect Obama to condemn them?

Probably.

During his inaugural speech, Obama described George Bush and Republican policies in pretty much the same tones he reserved for Islamist terrorists; the only problem being, he excoriated Republicans three times, and the Terrorists once. While not overtly racist, it certainly did nothing to advance the cause for "change" and reconciliation that he wishes for America.

When Obama's candidacy was in trouble due to the racist rantings of Jeremiah Wright ten months ago, President Obama gave a speech in which he dredged up the Confederacy, Jim Crow and hundreds of years of slavery, the none-too-subtle point being that Wright's comments were in some way defensible.

He also pinned the racist label on his own white grandma, describing her as being suspicious of young black men at night, and crossing the street to avoid them. Let's forget for the moment the dozens of black commentators who have so famously described that same scenario - only involving old black women - and came down on the side of old black women. Did Obama miss the lesson in those stories, or is his inherent assumption that old white women are racist for reacting exactly the same way as old black women?

If these two speeches are prologue and epilogue on the opening chapter of the Obama saga, I am not encouraged. I'd like to see him condemn the racism of those who sullied the Inauguration in at least as strong of terms as those he used to criticize his own grandmother, but I'm not holding my breath.

We shall see.