Via Instapundit, perception of race relations has gone down since President Obama took office:
Public attitudes about race relations have plummeted since the historic election of President Barack Obama, according to a new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.
Only 52 percent of whites and 38 percent of blacks have a favorable opinion of race relations in the country, according to the poll, which has tracked race relations since 1994 and was conducted in mid-July by Hart Research Associations and Public Opinion Strategies.
That’s a sharp drop from the beginning of Obama’s first term, when 79 percent of whites and 63 percent of blacks held a favorable view of American race relations.
Sadly, too many supporters of the president have made opposition to the policies of President Obama a continuing litmus test for racism. Oppose his policies--as if they would be supported if Bill Clinton attempted to enact them--and you are guilty of racist motivations.
There are still racists in America. But to believe we have not made tremendous progress in the last half century is just partisan hackery.
Like much else in our political world, the stakes involved in winning battles for control of the growing federal government have made the historic significance of electing an African American a mere weapon to defend left-wing policies. Our federal government is just too damn big. And the need to control it has cheapened the achievement of electing Barack Obama as an historical event. That's a damn shame.
