Bloodstream poison of identity politics has driven the left mad.

The emphasis on identity has always been, for most of the left, a matter of political expedience rather than true belief. The proof for that is easily seen in the left's treatment of Sarah Palin, Clarence Thomas, Michael Steele, etc. It is also easily seen in their unconcerned and defensive reaction to Bill Clinton's serial philandering.

For the left, the identity issue is only a means to a leftist end, and the identity itself only matters if the holder of that identity also adheres to the left's orthodoxy. Otherwise, he or she is a traitor, a phony, an Uncle Tom, a disgusting perverted homosexual, etc.

Nonetheless, people on the left have convinced themselves of two things.

1) That they actually care one little bit about the identity of these various groups for its own sake (as opposed to a part of a political agenda)

2) That their political opponents are the ones who are hostile to each of these identity groups.

It's genuinely pathological.

That pathology can be seen on display quite clearly in the writings of this charming author, Mr. Tim Wise:

This is your nation on white privilege

. . . White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.” 

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt. 

White privilege is when you can take nearly twenty-four hours to get to a hospital after beginning to leak amniotic fluid, and still be viewed as a great mom whose commitment to her children is unquestionable, and whose "next door neighbor" qualities make her ready to be VP, while if you're a black candidate for president and you let your children be interviewed for a few seconds on TV, you're irresponsibly exploiting them . . .

It goes on and on that way for quite some time.

Then, of course, we also have the latest theorizing from the AP—a truly biased organization—suggesting that Obama faces a six point handicap because of his race. Their evidence is shaky, but that doesn't stop them.

Nor will it stop people from blaming racism if Obama loses, or from calling his opponents racists for four-eight years if he wins.

Get ready for a bumpy ride down identity politics road. The left has been doing it since Tammany; they're really good at it.

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