We won't end racism but our kids might

While interviewing a guest today about race in America, MSNBC's Martin Bashir observed, "President Obama can't seem to win. He is often criticized for being too cool or professorial. When he does show passion, he is then accused of being an angry black man." Indeed. It is a cross Obama bears for all African Americans today. But by bearing it from the White House, his presence inexorably chips away at both the benign and malignant racism that still lingers in American society. One glorious silver lining is that our young will never know a time when a black president was an impossibility. Obama is the new normal. That alone is monumental. To be sure, the racial lens through which too many people insist on viewing Obama is frustrating. It is maddening that we are still dealing with the legacy of racism 148 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. On the other hand, the discussion is needed and healthy. Yet it must also be said that despite great progress, Bashir's observation is reminder that we who comprise the current generation still carry the decaying baggage of America's Original Sin. Not all, of course. But many. Too many. We elected Mr. Obama, yes. That was a great leap forward. But we have not yet entered a post-racial era. It may come. But it will be our children or grandchildren who usher it in. Not us.