Matthew Yglesias: Obama on equality of opportunity: Noted for August 29, 2013
Matthew Yglesias: Obama on equality of opportunity:
In the midst of yesterday's peroration on race in America, Barack Obama took an aside to reassure white people that he's not one of those black politicians…. Obviously if anyone out there is deliberately refusing to participate in the raising of their child and using poverty as an excuse for doing so they ought to stop (but does this happen? I'm skeptical.) And a bold stance against violent rioting is, I guess, something we can all get on board for (though see Ta-Nehisi Coates' important points). But this business on equality of opportunity versus a "mere desire for government support" is pernicious nonsense. Unless equality of opportunity is going to be nothing more than a hollow formalism, you need a lot of government support.
