Affirmative We Can?

by Chris Bodenner
Stuart Taylor highlights a pending Supreme Court petition that may become Obama's first big test on affirmative action.  The case:

[New Haven firefighter Frank] Ricci studied for eight to 13 hours a day to prepare for the combined written and oral exam in 2003 that he hoped would win him a promotion. He spent more than $1,000 buying the books that the city had suggested as homework and paying an acquaintance to read them onto audiotapes. (Ricci is dyslexic and learns better by listening.) And he got one of the highest scores.

But Ricci and other would-be lieutenants and captains with high scores did not get the promotions they expected. The reason was that -- because not enough black firefighters had done well enough to be eligible -- New Haven decided to discard the test results and make no promotions at all.

Taylor argues:

The city's other reasons for wanting to give more promotions to minority firefighters -- diversifying the upper ranks, and providing role models for younger black and Hispanic firefighters -- are entirely laudable. But at what cost to those who work hard and play by the rules only to be turned aside for being the wrong color?

"Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race," Obama said in his much-acclaimed March 18 speech about race. "So when they ... hear that an African-American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed ... resentment builds over time."

Instead of promoting none of the firefighters, couldn't the city have provided free or subsidized tutoring for minority test-takers?  That seems like a reasonable middle ground between ignoring an achievement gap and punishing qualified people. But I guess it's easier for affirmative-action officials to just cook the books and condescend to lower expectations.