That last sentence is what I was trying to get people to realize yesterday. As much as it infuriates folks on both sides of the aisle when the other side won't admit that they're wrong or playing dirty, we really need to let go of getting the other side to agree to play by the rules of decency as a prerequisite for discourse. Obama proved that by ignoring the comment made by Wilson, and while there's been condemnation, it hasn't come from the White House because Obama knows that there are bigger things to worry about. Napoleon said it best: "Never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake."
"You will note that I have not yet mentioned race. For the record, I suspect that Obama's race leads some of his critics to feel they have permission to deny him the legitimacy, stature and common courtesy that are any president's due. I can't prove this, however. And if I'm right, what's anybody supposed to do about it? There's no way to compel people to search their souls for traces of conscious or unconscious racial bias. We could have an interesting discussion about the historical image of the black man in American society, but that wouldn't get us any closer to universal health care." (emphasis mine)
If we expect to move past all this stuff and truly ostracize the folks who hold terrible things in their hearts, then we'll need to move on without them and force them to come with us by choice. That's how it's always had to be done. Nothing about the way we fight this stuff has changed... only the battlefield.
