Still castigating whites

"So it’s not surprising then," said Mr. Obama, "that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Oops! Careful, Barack, or your own bitterness might begin to show. And how would that look coming from a "post-racial" man, a brother who has risen above bitterness? You just might yet expose the typical black notion that only people who look like you (more or less) should be moved to express grievances – be they social or political.

No matter how hard these benighted American whites have tried to make amends, for at least the last 40-odd years, they still bump into the castigation of old Zeke clinging to his guns and religion, as a display of his antipathy to the Other.

It has long been determined by people like you, Barack, that whites have no legitimate self-interests. Apparently, whites cannot have real gripes, like not wanting to live in high-risk neighborhoods; or having their country overrun with aliens; or being stuck with the consequences of free trade or the outsourcing of the country's industries. No, these are not real grievances, so whites obviously must be suffering from something else – their own personal frustrations, which, needless to say, are unreasonable. Therefore, they must be racists against "people who aren't like them."

Barack, you implied such sentiments in your recent Great Speech. The dreamers just weren't listening closely, or did not want to hear. You then claimed that whites should not mistake "distractions" for real grievances. Although you won't come out and say it, you know you think as typical blacks do that, given all the evil things done by their ancestors, whites should look only to solve the problems of the coloreds, i.e., those folks with the "real" grievances.

It could be, Barack, that your recent diatribe will be smoothed over, and you will continue to be feted by most whites, who believe they deserve any disparagement that comes from a black. Author Tom Wolfe, in his devastating satires, describes scenes in 1960s New York of white audiences voluntarily coming to events, where they were denounced and literally cursed by black nationalist rhetoricians, who became celebrities for their "eloquent" rantings. The whites ate it up and couldn't get enough.

Rightwing pundits claim that your off-the-cuff remarks reflect "elitist contempt." But we blacks know that's only the half of it.