A voice of reason amid the flames:

Asked about Reid’s comments, Virginia Democrat Douglas Wilder, who became the first African-American to be elected governor of a state 20 years ago, took issue with Reid’s assumptions about race relations. “We’re not where he thought we may have been a year ago,” Wilder said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“We crossed that threshold 20 years ago,” Wilder said making a reference to his own historic election as Virginia’s chief executive in 1989.

“The unfortunate thing, John,” Wilder told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, “is that one snippet … by Harry Reid illustrates the need for a more open discussion about race and put it where it belongs – into the closet. [President] Obama wasn’t elected because he was – or was not – of any color. He represented a change. He represented a fastening of the dreams and the aspirations of the American people to someone who could bring about change.”

Saying he would have liked to have thought his own election as Virginia’s governor would have put to rest any concerns about an African-American candidate’s race, Wilder also said Sunday that he was “saddened … to see that 20 years later there still is that degree of apprehension on behalf of some people who are in leadership positions.”

It’s nice to hear grown people talk. Why should you listen to Wilder? He withheld an endorsement for Creigh Deeds, the Democratic contender for governor in Virginia. And even Obama’s campaigning for Deeds didn’t hand the Dems a victory in 2009 despite years of Democratic rule in Virginia. Wilder ain’t no fool. Republican McDonnell was much more successful in his outreach to African-Americans in VA and while they may not have voted for him, they didn’t vote aganist him nor did they vote for Deeds. Black turnout was low. Real low and Democrats who are serious about having a strong party would do well to listen up and pay heed to a veteran and a trailblazer. I kinda want Doug Wilder to talk more on TV, don’t you?

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