Posted by
Andrews on Wednesday, April 09, 2008 5:11:30 PM
Yet again, James Taranto appears to be hitting the same points I have several weeks later. Of course, he is hobbled by having to relate his articles to events, while I am free to opine on whatever strikes my fancy. (Then again, people actually pay him for what he writes.)
Be that as it may,
some time ago, I proposed that our hypersensitivity to race is the reason racial strife continues. And, today,
Best of the Web reproduced my argument almost verbatim:
When a supposedly postracial campaign is proclaiming, "We need more
white people," perhaps the time has come to ask if encouraging
hyperconsciousness of race is really the way to get beyond racism.
And so, once again, I find myself scooping the WSJ.
(And, for those who did not see the
earlier installment, I am hardly as arrogant or delusional as this suggests. It simply amuses me to take the Best of the Web's running gag of "Life imitates the..." and apply it to them. Obviously they have expressed the thought before, it is hardly novel. But I have to amuse myself, after all, I don't get paid for this.)
UPDATE
Actually, I should have read the entire column, as there is a second item which even more closely imitates my own thoughts.
I have long
argued against those who want to sit out the election. Some have suggested that we should
allow a Democrat to be elected so the public can remember what a real liberal government is like. In response I have
argued that an Obama presidency would be
such a catastrophe that
we would not recover. Specifically I have argued that he could be the
next Carter.
Imagine my surprise when I saw this:
This is par for the course for Carter, who has spent
decades trying to undermine American foreign policy and won a Nobel
Peace Prize for it. It reminds us of one reason we're uneasy about the
idea of electing Barack Obama, who has made much of his desire to meet
with hostile foreign rulers and has given us no reason to think he will
take a hard line with them, à la Reagan with Gorbachev.
America elected Jimmy Carter 32 years ago and is still
paying the price. Suppose history repeats: Obama wins and has a failed
one-term presidency. Will he be jetting around the world meeting with
terrorists and despots and denouncing America in 2040? Maybe not, but the thought gives us a shudder.
Not only does it reproduce my thoughts quite well, but it even uses Carter.
So, twice in one day, I have scooped the WSJ.
(And this second part was not so much intended to amuse myself as to provide an excuse to link to a bunch of old articles so readers could enjoy some of my less recent writing. I am so manipulative.)