Obama's pity party speech included the claim, "After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America. And such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. Race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society."
And Obama has been using it to divide.
But who gave the impression that there would be a post-racial society? Let's flash back to Obama's most famous speech. The first one. The one that put him on track to the White House. And to the most famous line from it. “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is the United States of America. There is not a black America, a white America, a Latino America, an Asian America. There’s the United States of America.”
The conclusion to that paragraph declared, "We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."
It was a great moment. And if Obama had lived up to a fraction of it, he would have deserved the adoration heaped on him. But instead he went the other way. He pushed racism and racial divisiveness while still offering up high-minded rhetoric.
It was Obama who promised a post-racial society. One people. No longer divided by our differences.
As Shelby Steele very aptly analyzed then, it was a manipulative scam.
"Obama's post-racial idealism told whites the one thing they most wanted to hear: America had essentially contained the evil of racism to the point at which it was no longer a serious barrier to black advancement. Thus, whites became enchanted enough with Obama to become his political base. It was Iowa -- 95% white -- that made him a contender. Blacks came his way only after he won enough white voters to be a plausible candidate...
"When whites -- especially today's younger generation -- proudly support Obama for his post-racialism, they unwittingly embrace race as their primary motivation. They think and act racially, not post-racially. The point is that a post-racial society is a bargainer's ploy: It seduces whites with a vision of their racial innocence precisely to coerce them into acting out of a racial motivation. A real post-racialist could not be bargained with and would not care about displaying or documenting his racial innocence. Such a person would evaluate Obama politically rather than culturally."
Then Obama decided to dispense with the parts of his former white base that weren't college educated social justice crybullies. He chose to rely on the divisive power of race to win elections. It paid off and it poisoned his party and his society.
Now he's doing his, "I never promised you a post-racial society" routine. Yes he did. But the promise was a shell game. The post-racial society suddenly gave way to endless racial grievances. That is how the left's promises of a better world always end.