"Reid's words on race echo earlier ones by Obama."

[KansasVoter]

WASHINGTON — Long before Sen. Harry Reid offered a view about what it takes to be a successful black political figure in America, Barack Obama did too.
It was no surprise that Obama promptly accepted Reid's apology over the weekend for a racially insensitive remark, considering that health care and the rest of the president's legislative priorities are likely to rise or fall on the back of Reid, the Senate Democratic leader.
But that is not the only reason Obama came to Reid's defense and is heading to Nevada next month to campaign for him.
Reid's comment — that Obama was "light-skinned" and did not speak with a "Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one" — is not so different from comments the president made himself while navigating the complicated path of race and politics during his rapid rise to the White House.
It was only two years ago, that Obama was struggling to convince some African-American voters that he was "black enough," as some of his critics put it at the time. His electoral prospects did not improve in the South Carolina primary, where the support of black voters is critical, until he won the Iowa caucuses, where most voters are white.
As Obama traveled across the country in the long Democratic primary fight, his policy proposals sounded largely the same from state to state. That was not always the case for his inflection and mannerisms.

<snip>

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_14168590

[KansasVoter]

1. How could this be unreced already? LOL.

[FreedomRain]

2. Recd to balance that

Your point is reasonable and well made and sourced.

[emilyg]

3. +1

[boppers]

4. AAVE != "Negro dialect".

Reid was right to apologize, and Obama was right to accept it.