Oh Eric!

I have not had a chance to form much of an opinion about Eric Holder so far. I figured a brick doorstop would be an improvement over all of Bush's picks for Attorney General. But Holder really put his foot in his mouth during a speech at the Department of Justice African American History Month.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards."

I suspect that Holder felt he was saying what had to be said based on his experience, but it was particularly ill timed after the election of the first black president. Yes, racism still exists in this country...big time. But Holder's comments did not help one bit. It is going to be read and remarked and rehashed as a slam against whites in this country. It does not appear that was Holder's intent. In the very next sentence in his speech he said:

"Though race related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race."

OK, so he is talking about everybody of every race. Fine. But which part of the quote do you think Drudge, Malkin, Limbaugh, and O'Reily will use, the damning "Coward" part or the clarification? Stupid move, Eric. You just threw an underhanded lob and the Righties are going to hit that out of the park, then find the ball and pound it into the pavement. I predict that years from now Right-leaning pundits will still refer to him as "Eric Holder, the Attorney General who called Americans a Nation of Cowards." The right will brand you as a race-baiter forever. And, you know what? You will have deserved it.

After Geitner's rambling, uninspiring bailout speech and Holder's fumble, I think Obama needs to keep his cabinet members away from the microphone.