On Monday, local commentator Ruth Ann Dailey published a column, “Black and White and Wrong All Over” about the furor over Barack Obama’s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  While I agreed that some of Mr. Wright’s comments were wrong, irresponsible, and even dangerous, I took exception to Ms. Dailey’s assertion that America is a post-racist society.  Presumambly, this means that minorities no longer suffer from discrimination.  As everyone who is not a right-wing crazy person knows, that is a ridiculous thing to say.

So I wrote a letter which was published today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette under the title “‘Post-racist America’ is far from being a reality.”  I wish I would have had more space to address Mr. Wright’s comments.  But that wasn’t the issue I was trying to address and, anyway, Barack Obama did a much better job of it in his speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday.  If you haven’t watched it yet, I really recommend doing so.  It will be 37 minutes well spent.  Over the past seven years I had forgotten what a real speech sounds like when it is not mangled by a a string of abuses to the English language and common human decency.  Now, imagine listening to this guy for four or eight years: