And slavery?

Accordingly, Obama's Philadelphia speech — a theatrical masterpiece — will probably reassure most Democrats and some other Obama supporters. They will undoubtedly say that we should now "move on," even though many Democrats have still not yet moved on from George W. Bush's 2000 election victory.

Thomas Sowell puts his finger on one of the favorite tactics of leftists: the demand that once a leftist, phosgene-laden, political train wreck occurs it should have no more than 90 minutes of national exposure, starting with the Leno monologue at 2230.

At the end of this time allotted for disclosure; elaboration; panel discussion between James Carville, Rusty Humphrey, and Al Franken; and full and complete acceptance of "full responsibility" in the fullest possible way by peripheral actors, it then becomes time to "move on" to consider other matters. Matters like, oh, say, Mr. Bush's rhetorical failings, Abu Ghraib atrocities, Swift Boat Veteran lies, and the tens of millions of Iraqi civilian deaths due to Air Force carpet bombing. With phosgene.

Here's a thought. Slavery would be a good thing to "move on" from, too.

No kidding.

No living American black was ever a slave. No ancestor of mine ever owned one. Huge numbers of other northerners and southerner never were slave holders. My grandfather and his father were wounded and gravely disabled while serving in the Union Army, and hundreds of thousands of men suffered and died in a war that seems to have had something to do with ending slavery in the United States. At least, that's what I've heard.

Virtually my entire adult life has been spent in an America that turned itself inside out to make amends to blacks who suffered under segregation. I have never personally met another white person who did not think that was not the right and decent thing to do. Even by the early 80s, something like $4,000,000,000,000 had been spent on blacks, if my memory serves me.

But don't delude yourself. There'll be no "moving on" from slavery and its bastard child, "the legacy of oppression." Black race hustlers will let loose of that Heaven-sent issue duo at about the time that Jeremiah Wright calls Michael Jackson for the name of his plastic surgeon.

The $64 question will still be on the table, though: when will slavery be "over"? If ever.

"Obama So Far: Better As Icon Than President." By Thomas Sowell, Investors Business Daily, 3/19/08.