Originally Posted by smooth

The fact that a discussion over Obama's election turns into a basis for arguing against affirmative action is evidence enough to me that you guys just don't really have much of a clue about what you're talking about...except that you don't like affirmative action. I mean, you seem to have the idea that you're opposed to it locked down fairly tight, but for someone who claims to be "comfortably perched at the top of the bell curve" it'd be interesting to see you muster an argument sans non sequitur in support of your position.

I'm not even sure what you think you're "paying" for? I've certainly never paid anything to a woman or black person. Do you guys even know that the largest group that benefits from affirmative action is white women? I'm simply amazed at the historical trends between women and blacks and who gets their rights first. Who won the right to vote first? I'd have to look up the timeline, since I can't remember whether blacks or women were first to be admitted into universities...given they were white, male only for a good long while. And during this primary season, I was watching to see if the 1st black/woman issue would repeat itself the same way as suffrage...and it did! I was a bit shocked over the lack of dialog about this. It's kind of stunning actually, since Blacks comprise a minority of the population in both the numerical and power sense, whereas women comprise a power minority but a numerical majority of the population.

I wish I could live in your fantasy world, where the effects of slavery ended 100 years ago. If I did, then at least I could make more sense out of the "reparations for civil war casualties" argument. I wonder how many people have this thought rattling around in their minds: if Obama were much darker his life course and ultimately this election would have had a different trajectory. That's not even a stab at whites, that's a fact that even blacks still need to work out among themselves. The fact is, we may get a woman nominee soon, but we'll not see another black candidate for a good long time. If I had to guess, I would suspect we won't elect another black president for 20+ years.