Yesterday, when it became official that Barack Obama had acquired the number of superdelegates necessary to become the 2008 Democrat nominee for President of the United States, some perfectly nice and reasonable people--conservatives--were looking for people, specifically black Americans, to congratulate. I wondered why at first. After all, he's not my child or my spouse, so I've made no contribution to his achievement.
Then I realized that Identity Politics has become so pervasive that even conservatives sometimes practice it, albeit unconsciously. Therefore, even though I've actively opposed Obama's candidacy, even though I've deemed the specter of an Obama presidency to be frightening, I'm to be congratulated because not only do Obama and I share a race but also an ethnic group.
No. That's wrong.
Conservatives, we've talked about individualism before; it's a part of conservatism and either you believe in it or you don't. If you do, then the idea of sharing in Obama's achievement solely on the account of qualities like race and ethnicity should be an anathema. Send congratulations to someone who shares the senator's political and social values.
See also Bill Quick and Misha the Big Dog (language alert).
(Thanks to Instapundit)
