The Race Goes On

Sure. No sooner did I spend a good bit of time putting a piece together on the silent battle of the Times Titans, only to discover this morning that Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher did the same thing, More Shots Fired in 'NYT' Op-Ed 'War' Over Reagan and Racism. He also alerted me to the latest in the Great Krugman-Brooks Feud of 2007, as Steve Benen of the Carpetbagger Report calls it, Republicans and race — the coda.

In Truth is Complicated -- For Republicans, I discussed the various recent columns by Krugman, Brooks, Herbert and others in the Times as it pertains to the "Southern Strategy" that was part of the Reagan legacy. In the latest salvo in the battle, Paul Krugman Republicans and Race:

Over the past few weeks there have been a number of commentaries about Ronald Reagan’s legacy, specifically about whether he exploited the white backlash against the civil rights movement.

The controversy unfortunately obscures the larger point, which should be undeniable: the central role of this backlash in the rise of the modern conservative movement.

In an amusingly ironic note, Krugman explains that -- much like the subtle debate occurring at the Times that never directly mentions names -- Reagan's race-bating was never explicit:

True, he never used explicit racial rhetoric. Neither did Richard Nixon. As Thomas and Mary Edsall put it in their classic 1991 book, “Chain Reaction: The impact of race, rights and taxes on American politics,” “Reagan paralleled Nixon’s success in constructing a politics and a strategy of governing that attacked policies targeted toward blacks and other minorities without reference to race — a conservative politics that had the effect of polarizing the electorate along racial lines.”

Again, Krugman addresses the justification of Reagan put forward by his defenders:

Reagan’s defenders protest furiously that he wasn’t personally bigoted. So what? We’re talking about his political strategy. His personal beliefs are irrelevant.

Why does this history matter now? Because it tells why the vision of a permanent conservative majority, so widely accepted a few years ago, is wrong.

The point is that we have become a more diverse and less racist country over time. The “macaca” incident, in which Senator George Allen’s use of a racial insult led to his election defeat, epitomized the way in which America has changed for the better.

Methinks the defenders of the right (and Reagan) should just give up on this one. I just don't see a good way to spin this one. The options are either that Reagan was too ignorant of southern politics to understand the wrongful impact of what he did, or he was craven enough to ignore his own principles to use race to his advantage, by appealing to bigots. Neither helps old Ronnie's image on this issue.

Tags: Commentary, Krugman, Reagan, Race