Obama Says He Supports Quotas

In his first speech and talk with reporters back in the U.S. after his campaign swing through Europe, Obama said

I am a strong supporter of affirmative action when it is properly structured, so that it is not just a quota, but acknowledging or taking into account some of the hardships and difficulties communities of color have experienced and continue to experience.

Obama said he did not want to see wealthier African-American children getting more breaks than poor white children.

Not just a quota? So, Obama actually supports racial quotas, as long as they aren’t just quotas.

He apparently has no objections to poor blacks “getting more breaks” than poor whites and Asians; middle class blacks “getting more breaks” than middle class whites and Asians; and rich blacks “getting more breaks” than rich whites or Asians. I suppose the only remaining question about his pro-quota position is whether he supports rich blacks “getting more breaks” than middle-class whites or Asians and middle-class blacks “getting more breaks” than poor whites and Asians.

Obama has tried to qualify his support for racial preferences before by using this “properly structured” language. In a recent interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, for example, he said:

When properly structured, affirmative action programs can open up opportunities to qualified minorities—and can do so without diminishing opportunities for white students. Given the dearth of black and Latino Ph.D. candidates in mathematics and the sciences, for example, a scholarship program for minorities interested in getting advanced degrees in these fields won’t keep white students out of such programs but can broaden the pool of talent that we need to prosper in the new economy.

In a quiz about his views that I posted in response, I asked the following questions (among others):

3. How can affirmative action programs that treat race in a preferential manner be “properly structured” so that they give additional opportunities to blacks without “without diminishing opportunities for white [or Asian] students”?

5. How would “a scholarship program for minorities interested in getting advanced degrees in [math and science] … broaden the pool of talent that we need to prosper in the new economy” more than a scholarship program that was not racially restrictive? If such a program were racially restrictive, why would it not “keep white [and Asian] students out of such programs” who could not attend without a scholarship?

Those questions remain un-answered, but at least now Obama has admitted that he supports “properly structured” quotas.

The more Obama talks about affirmative action, the more he makes even Bill Clinton’s “mend it, don’t end it” sound almost real. Do American voters really want to elect a candidate who stands four square with … Al Sharpton, who announced that “he, too, was disappointed” that McCain has finally come out for colorblind equal treatment?

Is it still possible to think of Obama as the post- or trans-racial candidate? Give me a break….

WAFFLE WATCH UPDATE

Watch for the waffle, er, “clarification,” that is sure to come from the Obama camp.

The Associated Press, like the Chicago Sun-Times article quoted above, reports that Obama told the UNITY convention of black journalists in Chicago that he is a “strong supporter of affirmative action when properly structured so that it is not just a quota.”

For some reason, however, the New York Times did not find that quota comment fit to print. Its article, by Michael Powell and Susan Saulny, and this one by Susan Saulny, stated only the following:

Mr. Obama said on Sunday that he supported affirmative action “when properly structured” to take into account not only race but also economic hardship.

Ditto for David Jackson’s article in today’s USA Today, which said only:

The Democratic candidate, seeking to become the nation’s first African-American president, said he supports affirmative action “when properly structured.”

Unless the Obama campaign concludes that nothing happened if the New York Times doesn’t record it, look for clarifications of Obama’s quota comment shortly.

Suggestion for enterprising reporters: when Obama says that what he actually said was that he supports affirmative action when it is “properly structured so that it is not a quota” — as opposed to the “not just a quota” as quoted by the Associated Press, the Chicago Sun-Times, and others — ask him what is wrong with quotas that is not also wrong with treating some people better and some worse than others because of their race even if no quota is involved.

Note: It is of course possible that Obama was misquoted by reporters on the scene from the Associated Press and the Sun Times. If someone has a transcript of what Obama actually said to the UNITY convention, I’d like to see it.

UPDATE II

John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune also reports the “just”:

While saying he is a “strong supporter” of affirmative action, Obama said it must also be structured so that it is not just a quota system.

UPDATE III: The Film

Here is a CNN video of Obama’s appearance before the UNITY convention.

I can now report, and you can confirm, that Obama said he supports affirmative action “when it is properly structured so that it is not just a quota.” This statement occurs at about 14 minutes through the 18 minute video.