Some Obama critics feel they have been wrongly painted as racist for the crime of opposing Obama. Some of their critique has been racist, some has been reasonable, some has been unreasonable but what would be leveled at any Democrat. Either way, Cain offers absolution and liberation from feeling like a racist. For how can the party be racist if there’s a Black frontrunner? I think many in the party genuinely like him and are won over by his chutzpah and respect his journey from Morehouse to CEO. Fair enough. But the ascension of Cain does not prove that racism is over. Just because the party has a cool, new Black friend it’s excited about, doesn’t erase decades of condescending opinions and harmful policies toward Blacks.

Alas Cain, in particular, is not the best person on which to hang your proof that your party isn’t racist. A Black man who denies that racism has an impact on today’s world gives great comfort to people who wish for the race conversation, as opposed to racism, to be over. A Black man who thinks if you don’t have a job, it’s your fault gives comfort to those on one side of the class war. A Black man who wraps himself in minstrelish tropes, like wanting the Secret Service to call him Cornbread and breaking into song at campaign events, surely gives comfort to those who are still not comfortable seeing Blacks as Alpha men. A Black man who can lead in the polls for weeks without seriously convincing anyone that he’s going to win is like having your chocolate and not getting fat. Or getting the walk-on-the-wild-side thrill of dating a Black guy without worrying that you’ll ever be pressured to marry him.