This is the second time Slate has fantasized that Obama could "reach out" or "change America" if only he takes Slate's earnest advice to end affirmative action. Those of us who actually work in fields where affirmative action has long locked out white applicants, particularly older white women, in the single-minded, bloody-minded march to fill any and all positions, first and foremost, with minorities, can tell you that ending race-based affirmative action will never happen under Obama. It's risible, and shockingly naive to voice. Those living in the fantasy-camp of on-line journalism need to spend some time talking to people who don't. I was surprised the first time I was told I shouldn't bother to apply for a job because I was white. That was almost twenty years ago, and now the people making hiring decisions in academia and politics are largely people hired because of these employment set-asides -- or people who remain silent because they are realistically afraid of being accused of prejudice, losing their jobs, or both. It takes hubris for people earning comfortable livings to project fantasies like this onto people whose lives are impacted by the ugly, divisive realities of affirmative action. And it takes something far more troubling to claim that Obama, given his actual unwillingness to advocate ending affirmative action, can both unite people on this issue and transcend it. On what grounds, really, would anybody believe such a thing? His "moral character"? His "fiber"? Get real. Affirmative action set-asides are the single most divisive issue for non-rich, white Americans. And they should be.

Those of us who actually work in fields where affirmative action has long locked out white applicants, particularly older white women ...

Uh, you do know that white women are the primary beneficiaries of AA, right?

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