Race

Wants re-expansion of segregation-perpetuating outsider-restriction policy in affordable-housing lotteries after nine-year battle limited it. Panders to neo-segregationists despite knowing that court order has already ruled out changed based on his rationales.

In the Barack Obama and Bill Clinton version of the Democratic Party, the goal is to have “conversations about race.” Or, at least, these two presidents have wanted to have intermittent conversations to the extent convenient. Once upon a time, those in favor of civil rights (as Obama and Clinton surely are) were more direct: they demanded action, not talk.

As the Supreme Court looks ready to restrict or eliminate race-based affirmative action in its 2012-13 session, supporters of such preferences have a tool not yet deployed: race-based affirmative action as a means to compensate for the disproportionately negative impact of current-day "legacy admissions" policies on minority applicants.

Neither city nor suburban officials would look past selfish concerns.