The Sotomayor quote

Sonia Sotomayor, by all accounts, did once say: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Conservatives have pounced, alleging racism. Are they right?

At first blush, the quote does look like a pretty stupid thing to say (and not just because Sotomayor herself looks pretty indistinguishable from a "white" person). Imagine the ethnic groups reversed: “I would hope that a wise white man with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn’t lived that life.” Sounds pretty bigoted, no?

But not racist. Sotomayor's quote made it pretty clear that any decision-making advantage that she attributed to Latina women stemmed from their life experience, not their inborn racial traits or superior cultural heritage. Imagine if she had rephrased the quote thus: "I think that my experiences as a Latina woman have given me a wisdom that, more often than not, allows me to reach better conclusions than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Same meaning. Possibly hogwash. But obviously not racist.

Also, it's important to realize that this is one quote. People say lots of things over the course of their careers. If there is any indication that Sotomayor continues to think Hispanic women are wiser than white men, it would be interesting to see. But something tells me that if that body of evidence existed, the conservative squawk machine would be plastering it all over the web and the airwaves, and Sotomayor's candidacy would be pretty much finished. Thus, my guess is that this comment was a one-off, or maybe even taken out of context.

Instead, I think we should be focusing on the fact that so much of Republicans' media strategy has focused on racial issues since late 2008. Is it that the Bush stagnation and the current recession have demolished Republicans' economic philosophy, forcing them to fall back on identity politics? Does Obama's election represent a racial apocalypse to the Republican base - the permanent end of guaranteed white majority power in America?

Whatever it is, I predict that the "rally the tribe" strategy is doomed to failure. Outside the South, relatively few white Americans put their racial identity first and foremost. Wise indeed.