As per our Attorney General, I will NOT be a coward about how much Al Sharpton annoys me.

[Bicoastal]

Here he is again, heading (with great fanfare) full-tilt into another racial controversy as if this whole incident was all about HIM, not Obama or black people in general. Why must all apologies (or requests for apologies) be requested by and delivered to Sharpton? How is he qualified to do this, anyway?

He has been dead wrong now on several embarrassing occasions--occasionally saying things nearly as offensive as the racism he protests against--and at worst, his involvement always brings an unwanted level of flamboyance and celebrity to any incident he gets involved with. What's especially ludicrous about this situation is that the subject of the undeniably offensive NY Post cartoon is President Barack Obama, a black man who is much more powerful and level-headed than Sharpton has ever been. Obama gets results; do you think the President feels he really needs the Rev. Al Sharpton's help on this one?

I'll admit it--I'm not black. I have no idea how the majority of the African-American community in this country feels about Sharpton today, and I won't presume to guess. But these tense incidents of ignorance and racism always seem to spiral out of control once Al gets involved, because suddenly the Conservatives have an easy punching bag to rally the base with. That alone isn't enough to make me wish he wouldn't materialize every time a racial controversy erupts, but as a self-proclaimed leader of his community, he really should let younger, cooler heads prevail at this point in his career.

Sharpton, along with Jesse Jackson (who I hold in much higher regard, btw), has talked about serving as a link between the days of Martin Luther King Jr and the era of the Obama family living in the White House. But I feel that his time, if he ever had one, has come and gone.

(No need to reach for the Pop Secret--I brought some myself. :popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:)