Randall Kennedy

Former Top NYT Editor Promotes Notion That Obama's a Political Jackie Robinson
By Tim Graham | July 31, 2013 | 1:47 PM EDT

As Brent Bozell hinted, The New York Times sees the president through sympathetic eyes as a political Jackie Robinson. In his latest column "Profiling Obama," former Times executive editor Bill Keller defends Obama against critics on the right and on the left who think Obama is either too black or not black enough.

Keller is gentle with liberals who are "disappointed that Obama has not made it his special mission to call out the racism that still festers in American society." But anti-Obama conservatives are deranged:

Bozell Column: NPR vs. 'Minstrel' Cain
By Brent Bozell | November 15, 2011 | 10:46 PM EST

National Public Radio proved a long time ago it disdains black conservatives. Remember when NPR’s Nina Totenberg launched the unproven sex-harassment charges against Clarence Thomas? NPR doesn’t even like black liberals who appear on Fox News: they canned Juan Williams. The sex-harassment charges against Herman Cain aren’t ruining him quickly as the media hoped, so on November 11, NPR viciously attacked Cain for being an enemy of blacks, and a “minstrel” to white conservatives.

Reporter Karen Grigsby Bates began with Harvard professor Randall Kennedy. “Black people know that if Herman Cain had his way, their lives would be diminished,” he announced. “And they intuit that Herman Cain's policies are against their interests.”

Black NPR Reporter Rips Cain: 'Willing to Be a Minstrel' for White Republicans
By Tim Graham | November 12, 2011 | 8:01 AM EST

On the same Morning Edition broadcast on Friday that made time to honor Obama's tender concern for veterans, black NPR reporter/Obama supporter Karen Grigsby Bates ripped into Herman Cain with a chorus of condemnation from black liberals.

Harvard professor Randall Kennedy claimed “Black people know that if Herman Cain had his way, their lives would be diminished.” Former Time reporter Jack E. White added “Herman Cain tells them what they want to hear about blacks, and in turn, they embrace him and say, see, that proves we aren't racist. He's even willing to be a minstrel for them.”

Harvard Law Prof to Justices Ginsburg & Breyer: Retire Now Before You Drop Dead During Republican Administration
By P.J. Gladnick | April 28, 2011 | 12:36 PM EDT

Didn't Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy get the word? Barack Obama's re-election is all but guaranteed if you believe the liberal mainstream media. Just today the CNBC head of news reported the belief that Obama's re-election would be guaranteed by the actions of the Fed. So why the concern about the health of Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer? Could it be that Kennedy doesn't quite (GASP!) believe in the political invincibility of the Lightworker?

Apparently such "heretical" thoughts must have occurred to Professor Kennedy judging by his New Republic article in which he urges the two aging justices to retire now because of the inference that they could die during a Republican administration elected next year and be replaced by (EEK!) conservatives. Of course, Kennedy tries, not too successfully, to be delicate in his suggestion:

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer should soon retire. That would be the responsible thing for them to do. Both have served with distinction on the Supreme Court for a substantial period of time; Ginsburg for almost 18 years, Breyer for 17. Both are unlikely to be able to outlast a two-term Republican presidential administration, should one supersede the Obama administration following the 2012 election. What’s more, both are, well, old: Ginsburg is now 78, the senior sitting justice. Breyer is 72.