I don't think the amount of talking about race is the issue – it's the type of talk about race that gets done. Discussions about race need to be constructive and meaningful, otherwise I don't see the point in them at all. I agree with Obama's latest comments that talk does little – if we want to see more forward motion that will be through actually doing something about inequalities and injustices in education, economics and so on.

Well, the pot can’t call the kettle black.

“The United States has decided to boycott an upcoming UN conference on racism unless its final document is changed to drop all references to Israel.”

This decision is a cowardly act by the Obama Administration.

……”If we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us.”– Eric Holder

Obviously, President Obama has no tolerance for certain “frank conversations” on the subject of race. The refusal to engage in dialogue with people who disagree with you on this most difficult subject sends the wrong message to both America and the world. This is an indication that Obama lacks the courage and conviction to morally defend his position on the subject.

Apparently the real issue is that the President disagrees with Attorney General’s language.

“I think it’s fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language. I think the point that he was making is that we’re oftentimes uncomfortable with talking about race until there’s some sort of racial flare-up or conflict, and that we could probably be more constructive in facing up to the painful legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination.” — President Obama

“The US also did not want the document to take up the issue of reparations for slavery, which was another hot topic in the Durban 2001 conference.”

Well practice what you preach brother regarding facing up to painful legacies, because your refusal to sit at the table of UN Conference on Racism is a recapitulation of what the white supremacy dynamic has done for the past 144 years.

There's nothing to suggest that the Bush Administration policies which gutted the middle class were held in high regard or influenced by the majority of economists. In fact, there was often very vocal opposition to many of the moves made during that time. JHU's Economics Department is hardly a hotbed of leftist thought and I can recall countless instances where professors demonstrated the underlying problems behind current fiscal and monetary policy.

Regarding the New American poor. These stories pop up all the time on CNN.com and they are infuriating to read because they are presented merely as quirky human interest stories without really addressing the fundamentals or issues.

I realize I may not be getting the whole picture of the attitude stateside now that I'm in China, but it strikes me that the US public sphere and media are in a state of complete paralysis when it comes to doing *anything* about the crisis. This is far and away the biggest disaster in decades and yet we're sitting there idly as jaw-dropping amounts of money are being yanked out of future generation's pockets without any transparency regarding what it's being used for and how it will be repaid.

…I can only hope that Holder's speech is a prelude to something greater. As is, it rings hollow.