Nonstop coverage

My 17 year old son just told me, with a big grin on his face, "Hey Dad, I was just doing some channel surfing, and I found out something I hadn't realized before. Michael Jackson was a saint!"

Johnny made another interesting observation last night: Barack Obama and Clarence Thomas are, psychologically speaking, mirror images. Thomas, who was dubbed "ABC" (for "America's blackest child," because of his dark skin) by other blacks in his youth, now takes political positions which reflect a more white, and conservative point of view: he's against affirmative action, against abortion, etc. And Thomas married a white woman.

Obama, who was brought up by his white mother in Hawaii and Indonesia and by his white grandparents in Kansas, had the opposite problem. When he first got involved in politics in Chicago, he had to prove that he was black enough to suit his constituency. (When he first ran for Congress in 2000, opponent Bobby Rush said, "I lived the civil rights movement. Barack just read about it.") Obama's political positions are now pro-everything that helps transfer money from white people to black people: higher taxes on the wealthy, giving the auto companies to their unions, a Supreme Court nominee who is a champion of affirmative action, nationalized health care, etc. And Obama married a dark-skinned black woman.

Both men had their fathers desert their families when they were only two years old. Both went to Ivy League law schools. And both spent their young manhoods intently focused on racial issues. They just ended up with opposite points of view.