cornel west
What Obama has done is so extraordinary that it calls into question the entire project of black advocates and intellectuals preoccupied by the question of racism.
Obama's movement is about us, and what we can do to shake things up. That's why older people who've held their spot forever -- the John McCains and Jesse Jacksons of this world -- find him a threat.
It is time we recognize that our search for a great president is also a search for our better selves. Finally, a political litmus test that matters: Which presidential candidate can lead us to do more good than we think we're capable of?
The whole point of a book like Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism -- besides degrading publishing so TV doesn't look so bad -- is to make liberals mad.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
The resentments that made it possible for Bill Clinton to scold youths of color into behaving properly towards nice middle-of-the-road voters haven't disappeared.
The more people get to know Obama, the more people listen to him speak and not just rely upon other peoples' insights, the worries that it's "too soon" or "people just aren't ready" will start to melt away.