“So by the left’s own standard, the quotes by Bill Clinton and (especially) Harry Reid clearly qualify as racist.”

But that’s not the criteria we should be employing. Neither Clinton nor Reid said anything remotely racist. The former president was merely indulging in a bit of hyperbole when saying that someone with Obama’s slim resume would be a coffee gofer a few years earlier. The same holds true regarding Reid’s asserting that Obama’s election chances increased because of his lighter skin color and ability to speak Harvard English. That’s just a cold analytical statement of fact. Shelby Steele has said similar things—and so have I!