James Webb’s WSJ Op-Ed: No Free Passes Here, Pal (‘Do As I Say, Not As I Have Campaigned and Voted’)

From the Virginia Democratic Senator’s op-ed today:

Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege

… Forty years ago, as the United States experienced the civil rights movement, the supposed monolith of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant dominance served as the whipping post for almost every debate about power and status in America. After a full generation of such debate, WASP elites have fallen by the wayside and a plethora of government-enforced diversity policies have marginalized many white workers. The time has come to cease the false arguments and allow every American the benefit of a fair chance at the future.

… Contrary to assumptions in the law, white America is hardly a monolith. And the journey of white American cultures is so diverse (yes) that one strains to find the logic that could lump them together for the purpose of public policy.

… The old South was a three-tiered society, with blacks and hard-put whites both dominated by white elites who manipulated racial tensions in order to retain power. At the height of slavery, in 1860, less than 5% of whites in the South owned slaves. The eminent black historian John Hope Franklin wrote that “fully three-fourths of the white people in the South had neither slaves nor an immediate economic interest in the maintenance of slavery.”

… Nondiscrimination laws should be applied equally among all citizens, including those who happen to be white. The need for inclusiveness in our society is undeniable and irreversible, both in our markets and in our communities. Our government should be in the business of enabling opportunity for all, not in picking winners. It can do so by ensuring that artificial distinctions such as race do not determine outcomes.

Memo to my fellow politicians: Drop the Procrustean policies and allow harmony to invade the public mindset. Fairness will happen, and bitterness will fade away.

Truly noble sentiments, but you’ll excuse me if I have a problem with Mr. Webb’s sincerity.

That’s because of three obvious questions which Mr. Webb must confront:

• Where were you when your 2006 election opponent was being mercilessly smeared by an agenda-driven press over totally bogus charges of racism?
• Who did you vote for in the 2008 presidential election?
• How many white privilege myth-assuming minority set-aside and reverse-discriminating provisions contained in Barack Obama’s bogus stimulus plan, statist health care plan, and so-called financial services plan have you enabled with your three “yes” votes, the third of which occurred mere days ago?

The answers, I believe, are:

• “I did nothing, or almost nothing.”
• “Racial Greivance Monger in Chief Barack Obama.”
• “Lots and lots,” clearly totaling “dozens.” One example: The financial services bill ” creates the Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion in at least 20 federal financial services agencies.”

If the three answers are as I believe they are, Mr. Webb has aided and abetted the very things he is criticizing today for almost four years.

No one should believe that a word of what Webb has written is sincere unless and until we see and hear at least three  heartfelt “I was wrong, I am sorry” statements.