Here’s Part I of the Interview and Part II.

He saw flags at half staff.  Were those confederate flags? (ouch)

He then told of the Statesville Record, a newspaper in Statesville, NC, that printed an article back in October (he made it sound as though it were just yesterday) with the headline “Analysis: Some whites fear an Obama presidency” and the first lines that read “What’s more scary: a bleak economy or a black president?”  It created a bit of a stir.  I’m not sure who was upset, people who might be “afraid” of a black president, people who were offended by the sentiment, or someone else.  Nevertheless, the paper had to issue an apology.  First, I can’t find the article in the Statesville Record on line, but it’s available here.  Second, the article was written by Jesse Washington, AP Race & Ethnicity writer.  It’s syndicated.  Sanchez made it sound as though it were written by a Statesville writer.  Third, did the paper owe an apology?  From what I can tell, Washington was making an observation.  It wasn’t his opinion. From the evidence he gave, it sounds like a pretty fair observation.   

Bottom line, though, Sanchez should’ve been more careful about his 2-minute semi-sensational report.  Shame on him.

This was such an enormous Democratic year that even John Murtha won his congressional seat in Pennsylvania after calling his constituents racists. It turns out they’re not racists — they’re retards.

Umm.  Take a look at Alaska’s election.  They elected a convicted felon.  Oops.  Don’t forget to be fair and balanced.

The day after the election, an African American woman and I were marveling about events and trying to put our finger on what had changed.

That thing. The little speck of difference that kept us imperceptibly apart had been dissolved in a lovely instant of national consensus that race no longer matters.

Really?  Race no longer matters?  CNN sure is devoting a lot of time to something that doesn’t matter.  Oh, and don’t forget what happened at Baylor.  Someone thought it would be fun to hang a rope from a tree and burn Obama/Biden signs. 

Right.  Race no longer matters.

I have other blogs, but they’re connected with my profession (I’m a professor in an English Department at a university–you know how we are–we’re some of those unAmerican liberals).  I keep those blogs apolitical and relatively neutral, if there is any such thing as being apolitical and neutral.  After all, the very books I read, the blogs I visit, the products I buy, the places I shop, and the way my taxes are spent have political implications.  But I don’t feel comfortable asking students to contribute to a blog that would probably alienate many of them.  Getting students to think in different ways is difficult enough.  So I couldn’t express the thrill of having watched Barack Obama being elected president.  I couldn’t post the YouTube of Wil.I.Am’s “Yes We Can Video.”  I couldn’t say that I’m going to watch the inauguration instead of go into mourning as I did when George W. was re-elected.  So there you have it.  I’ll write about books.  I’ll write about politics.  I’ll make observations.  I’ll take my Prozac.  I’ll live my life.  Yes I can.

P.S.  I’m not always going to demonstrate as much good will or good sense as one of my blogging friends does.   She writes “I can disagree with someone’s politics without being ugly to them.”  I admire her restraint.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be ugly at times.  But I’ll work on it and I won’t boo anyone.  And take more Prozac.

I understand the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” and the “if you work hard enough you can do anything” mentality, but it’s often inaccurate, and at times, downright dangerous.   It seems to me that it backfires.  There are going to be lots of folks who lose their jobs and homes–heck! There already are with unemployment and foreclosure numbers as high as they are–does it mean that they aren’t working hard enough?  Were people who lost everything during the Great Depression not working hard enough?  Is the single parent who has just lost her job after 15 years witht the same company not working hard enough?  What about the kid who goes to a high school that is underfunded, and where learning how to survive is more important than learning how to write a complete sentence?  Upon graduation, if that even happens, I can see a potential employer, complete with arched eyebrow and wagging finger saying, “You haven’t learned the necessary communication skills.  Clearly, you haven’t worked hard enough!” 

Yes.  Barack Obama overcame some of the biggest obstacles possible in order to accomplish what he has.  He’s been resourceful and smart.  He’s worked hard.  So did Clinton and McCain.  Sometimes hard work gets us where we want to be.  Sometimes it doesn’t.  But I think every time we utter the words “you can do anything you want if you just work hard enough,” it suggests that those who didn’t accomplish their goals didn’t work hard enough.

As for the leveled playing field?  I don’t think so.