Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010 | 2:02 a.m.
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Sen. Harry Reid did make a poor choice of words when evaluating Barack Obama’s chances of being elected president, but the statement surely does not rise to meet the accusations of racism being leveled against him. His words especially do not compare to the words of then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, to which they are being compared.
Paraphrasing, Trent Lott said in 2002 that the country’s woes of the past decades are due to the fact that Strom Thurmond, the segregationist politician, was not elected when he ran for president. This seems to imply that the advancements in the area of civil rights were a basic cause for the country’s troubles.
As a trained counselor, who is now retired, I know that looking at behavior is much more important than listening to words. Harry Reid’s record on civil rights speaks much more loudly than the words he uttered.
Most especially, when taken in context, they are the words of a savvy politician evaluating the chances for Obama’s election. Comparing Reid’s words with those of Lott’s, which are clearly racist, is comparing apples and oranges.
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