But I think the maxim is apt especially in view of the ongoing soul-searching being conducted by the Republicans and encouraged shamelessly by Democrats occasioned, allegedly, by Romney's remark post election about how we lost because Obama "gives" entitlements to about half the population. So far, the debate has been conducted by Republicans on the issue of class and entitlements but the Democrats are trying to drag them into race.
Bill O'Reilly got caught in that trap last night, although I do not accuse O'Reilly of being a Republican or even a conservative, he was attacked in the Washington Post as a racist for making the observation that traditional America is gone and it is gone largely because of across-the-board entitlements.
My view is that there is a mix of class and race at work. For example, not more than a few months ago black America was by majority opposed to homosexual marriage and now seems to have flipped with the president. Does one attribute that to class or to race?
What does one make of Colin Powell's endorsement?
I believe that there is a lot of race at work in this equation but how Republicans work with that reality is a conundrum they have not yet solved. If they cannot attack Obama for playing the race card, and they will not attack Barack Obama for being a radical leftist, that left Romney with ineffectual complaints that Obama's economic policies were the product of an ignorant but well-intentioned mind. This kind of criticism gained no traction against fixed opinions grounded in race that Obama was their man.
If the question is really one of race and not one of economics, that means that there is no appeasing of the Hispanic community until they sort out the race issue for themselves. In other words, if Hispanics voting Democrat because Democrats have successfully pandered to them on the basis of race, Republicans will get nowhere attempting to woo them on the basis of economics.
It seems clear to me that Republicans and conservatives are arguing about matters as though they were entirely controlled by economics when they are largely controlled by race. As long as we cannot openly speak the truth in a vocabulary of truth we are very unlikely to cure our problems.
