A shift in the prevailing language and attitudes can catch older generations in having said something which is now considered embarrassing. Some men still hold doors for women and get glared at. Some get furious at people for saying something they have said at some point said themselves (shhh!).
I think that's what Harry Reid's going to suffer for having said or written that candidate Barack Obama "could become the country’s first black president because he was 'light-skinned and had no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.'"
If you had said that about a candidate in the '70's or even the '80's, it would have been greeted as politically savvy or "realistic". Nowadays anyone over thirty is might be caught in having said something like "Negro dialect" and might then jump all over Harry Reid rather than admit, graciously, that language and attitudes have changed enormously in a matter of a few decades.
President Obama is nothing if not gracious.
“I accepted Harry’s apology without question because I’ve known him for years. I’ve seen the passionate leadership he’s shown on issues of social justice, and I know what’s in his heart,” Mr. Obama said in a statement, adding that the remark was “unfortunate.” “As far as I am concerned, the book is closed.”
Of course, the book will never close if you're a political opponent of Harry Reid.
