[burger]

But at the big picture level, I think both parties engage in their share of divisiveness, and my disagreement is with people who think that one party does it far more than the other party. But I am especially disappointed that, to me, President Obama has not helped heal the racial divide in our country, and has likely made it worse. He was uniquely positioned to help address this important problem, and to me it is his biggest failure.

I've heard this argument before, and I think that it is completely divorced from reality.  One big problem with race in this country (there are many "sub-problems," and it would take days to address them all) is that there are a lot of racist people.  Studies, including some by Stanford folks, have shown this over and over, and I am too lazy to get all the links, but the evidence is overwhelming.  How was Obama supposed to eliminate racism?  How was he supposed to make people of any race who have negative attitudes towards other races stop?  I think that racism is, in part at least, a product of human nature, and expecting Obama to somehow transcend human nature is the height of folly.

The "failure to heal the racial divide" argument is a farce.  Why was it Obama's responsibility to heal the racial divide?  We've had lots of previous presidents of both parties--didn't they have some responsibility, too?  Aren't parents responsible for raising their kids?  How about churches and religious institutions and schools?  Expecting one person to solve a problem that has existed for millenia is ridiculous.

[burger]

But at the big picture level, I think both parties engage in their share of divisiveness, and my disagreement is with people who think that one party does it far more than the other party. But I am especially disappointed that, to me, President Obama has not helped heal the racial divide in our country, and has likely made it worse. He was uniquely positioned to help address this important problem, and to me it is his biggest failure.

I've heard this argument before, and I think that it is completely divorced from reality.  One big problem with race in this country (there are many "sub-problems," and it would take days to address them all) is that there are a lot of racist people.  Studies, including some by Stanford folks, have shown this over and over, and I am too lazy to get all the links, but the evidence is overwhelming.  How was Obama supposed to eliminate racism?  How was he supposed to make people of any race who have negative attitudes towards other races stop?  I think that racism is, in part at least, a product of human nature, and expecting Obama to somehow transcend human nature is the height of folly.

The "failure to heal the racial divide" argument is a farce.  Why was it Obama's responsibility to heal the racial divide?  We've had lots of previous presidents of both parties--didn't they have some responsibility, too?  Aren't parents responsible for raising their kids?  How about churches and religious institutions and schools?  Expecting one person to solve a problem that has existed for millenia is ridiculous.