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Maureen's pre-election columns were generally ghastly enough. Not to be outdone by rival condescending op-edders, she breaks out the big guns today with a column that begins, "I grew up in the nation’s capital, but I’ve never seen blacks and whites here intermingling as they have this week." It gets better:
I heard my cute black mailman talking in an excited voice outside my house Friday, so I decided I should go ask him how he was feeling about everything, the absolute amazement of the first black president. If you don’t count what Toni Morrison said about Bill Clinton, that is.
But should we count it? Was Barack Obama the first or the second black president, or alternatively, the first half-white, half-black president?
I eagerly swung my front door open and joined the mailman’s conversation.
“Are you talking about the election?” I said brightly. “How do you feel?”
He shot me a look of bemused disdain as he walked away. I suddenly realized, with embarrassment, that he was on his Bluetooth, deep in a personal conversation that had nothing to do with Barack Obama.
So close, Maureen. You were so close to being able to steal someone else's thoughts as insight. Trust us: this moment will come again. If you were actually offended by this column, Maureen closes it out with a bang: "I’ll have to call my friend Gwen Ifill tomorrow and ask her how she feels about that." See! She has a black friend, it's cool.But should we count it? Was Barack Obama the first or the second black president, or alternatively, the first half-white, half-black president?
I eagerly swung my front door open and joined the mailman’s conversation.
“Are you talking about the election?” I said brightly. “How do you feel?”
He shot me a look of bemused disdain as he walked away. I suddenly realized, with embarrassment, that he was on his Bluetooth, deep in a personal conversation that had nothing to do with Barack Obama.