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Even Obama Seems Trapped by Racial Divide

By Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on

Some of President Barack Obama's supporters sound notably disappointed by his third speech on the Ferguson, Missouri, crisis. Too timid, they say. Here are some representative tweets.

Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic: "Feel like he is utterly exhausted. Actually feel bad for him. Not sarcastic pity. Like really feel bad."

Jamelle Bouie of the Daily Beast: "Barack Obama is either very tired, doesn't believe a single word he's saying re: Michael Brown, or both."

Saeed Jones, editor of BuzzFeedLGBT: "He does know he's not running for a third term, right?"

Tepid reviews from three of the brightest young African-American lights in punditry doesn't make the best day for Obama.

His opponents are disappointed, too, if only that he didn't give them more evidence to support their bogus charge that he's "dividing Americas by race."

 

Obama's supporters often want to see their president "leading."

But as Vox editor Ezra Klein wrote responding to his fellow disappointed young pundits, "The problem is the White House no longer believes Obama can bridge divides. They believe -- with good reason -- that he widens them."

That sounds about right. Since 2009, for example, political scientist Michael Tesler of Brown University has studied the "racialization" of issues in the Obama era. Topics unrelated to race (like taxes or health care) stir a racially polarized reaction in polls, Tesler finds, as Obama stakes out positions on them.

Racial conservatives even liked photos of the Obama family's dog less, Tesler found, after they were learned the identity of his owner.

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(c) 2014 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

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