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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.
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That said...

By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Feb 2 2009, 12:00 PM ET Comment

Let's not get ahead of ourselves:

Mr Obama was politely dismissive of Mr Steele when he ran unsuccessfully for the senate in 2006. Asked what he would say to Mr Obama now, Mr Steele said: "I would say to the new president, congratulations. It is going to be an honour to spar with him. And I would follow that up with: How do you like me now?"
And I think Obama follow that up with: Chairman Steele, Play your position. You lost a senate race in one of the blackest state's in the country, after a particularly racially divisive Democratic primary. Obama is a black Democrat who just won Virginia and North Carolina. At least Mel Martinez had won an election. What's that Clips lyric? You are not him.


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