Ray Nagin, Beacon of Racial Unity?

Somebody named Zoltan Hajnal opines in the WSJ today that white America is no longer uncomfortable electing black political leaders. If this is true (and I think it is to an extent) it is a welcome development naturally; political leaders shouldn't be favored or handicapped based on their races but on their true policy views, character and capacity to lead. Unfortunately Mr. Hajnal doesn't make the case. In the article he does not cite one single instance of a black politician to butress his thesis. Hajnal merely states that there are lot of black politicians out there, ipso facto us whiteys are OK with them. Again, I think he is correct to an extent, white Amerians are more or less open to the idea of black political leaders, but I think this is grounded in the theoretical rather than the empirical. White Americans are probably more open to black political leadership by virtue of the profound moral standing and achievements of the civil rights movement embodied by Martin Luther King rather than by the collective performance of actual black politicians. Of course, one cannot paint everybody with the same brush, and I have highlighted on this blog a black politician of inspiring promise (no, not Obama, this guy), but let's be brutally honest, the record of the most prominent black politicians in America can hardly be seen as winning over white America. Just today, one of the most prominent black politicians of the past 20 years here in the northeast was indicted for corruption. Long time residents of the region have always known Sharpe James for what he truly was, the head of a cynical and corrupt political machine that perfected the art of promoting white flight. Can we really say that the Morial-Barthelemy-Morial-Nagin experience in New Orleans has been one to inspire whites to vote across racial lines? David Dinkins, Tom Bradley, Kwame Kilpatrick, John Street? Do any of these guys strike you as making Hajnal's case? What about Congress? John Conyers, Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Jesse Jackson Jr., William Jefferson, Alcee Hastings. Who is making Hajnal's case? Who is winning over white votes through force of character and leadership?

The point that can be taken from this is not necessarily a racial one - that the transformations that our society undergoes are no thanks to the doings of those who occupy office. Our outlook on many areas of life are shaped by those outside politics, those people and events that move history along. I think Hajnal has come to the right conclusion on the wrong evidence.