A Better Class of Punditry Pt. 2

Matt tackles Beinart's silliness:

...the merits of the issue, abandoning race-based affirmative action makes sense to the extent that we don't think present-day racism -- as opposed to economic issues that may in some cases reflect the legacy of racism -- is a substantial problem. But if racism really is a huge barrier to Obama's electoral prospects, that suggests that present-day racism really is a substantial problem and we should probably maintain some focus on race per se.

And Adam on Barack as racial miracle-worker:

It's not Barack Obama's job to help America deal with racism. It's America's job to help America deal with racism. But it certainly suggests there's something accurate about David Ehrenstein's argument (forever twisted by Rush Limbaugh into a simple racial epithet) that some people see Obama as the "Magic Negro" prevalent in films like The Green Mile and Bagger Vance, since people like Beinart clearly expect Obama to be the instrument of their redemption.