Nothing like an inconvenient truth....

Condelezza Rice is finally seeing the light at the end of the Bush tunnel!  The lame duck months to come might produce some fireworks and raise the race debate to a new level.  I applaud the comments she had for The Washington Times (published on Friday March 28).  She was asked to comment on the Barack Obama speech that he gave on March 18.  Hopefully she will continue to feel like she can speak freely, and hopefully Colin Powell will add to the dialog.  Maybe their perspectives, which undoubtedly will support the conversation that Barack started, will give credence to the comments that the majority has tried to dismiss over these last 2 weeks.  I'd like to see the establishment try to tear down Powell or Rice like they have done to other Black leaders who challenge the glossing-over of our history in the United States. 

In this interview she pointed out that the US has a hard time dealing with race because of a "national birth defect....Blacks and Whites founded the country together....but Europeans by choice, and Africans in chains.....and Blacks, because of race, never had the same opportunities, which makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today."  

I love the metaphor of the "birth defect".  Our nation was born with the DNA of slavery and intolerance.  Just like a family that loves the baby in spite of it's defect, we as citizens love our country.  But when the caregivers for the baby choose to ignore the defect, or act like it doesn't exist, they do more harm than good.  The healthy thing to do is acknowledge the defect, work with the baby to overcome the defect, and refuse to let that defect define who that baby is. Institutions, state hospitals, and the nation's streets are full of lost souls whose defects went ignored.  The baby who is nurtured and given the right love and motivation will grow up and matriculate into the mainstream, and become productive.  Rice's analogy was right on the mark.

I've got to confess that I never expected this from Conde Rice, but I am so very happy to know she's sensitive to the struggle.  She has suffered through a very tough 7 years of ignorance, betrayal, and deception, while trying to keep the world image of the United States in tact.  An extremely difficult job I'm sure, given the boss she has had to represent.  Can't wait to read her memoirs once this administration leaves office.

Here's the other side of the race debate:

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell - "You've got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate." - Feb. 6th.   His defense - "I was trying to handicap the race..  It's like trying to say that North Carolina beat Duke because they have taller players.  Taller players generally get more rebounds than shorter players.  I was 'talking' in a private room, I didn't think that my comments would get into the public domain....I don't regret my comments, I told the truth....and we've got to be able to speak the truth about race without someone pointing a finger and saying you're racist."   

So here is my question...

If this happened back on February 6th, why is it only being brought out now?  Typically, inflammatory comments like this make the headlines and cable news networks within 24 hours.  Why does this get excused?  Not trying to pick a fight, or drag Gov. Rendell over the coals, but don't his comments deserve the same scrutiny, context truncation, and over-reaction that other racially-based comments have gotten?  Oh yeah, he's not running for President, so what he says isn't that important.  He's just the 2-time governor of a state with 158 democratic delegates to be apportioned, and holds the highest political and public office over a state of 12 million citizens (10.7% of them are Black).   Besides, he was just talking amongst friends about his true feelings, and would have said something much more "acceptable" if he thought the world would hear his words and twist them.  Sound ironic?  

Don't worry Ed, you'll get the "establishment" pass for these gaffes,  just like Hillary has gotten for her "mis-speak" about her 1996 trip to Bosnia when she was ducking and running from gunfire.