My first reaction when I saw the photos of the black female West Point graduates in their seemingly defiant, fists-raised black power poses was probably similar to that of a large segment of conservative America: "What the hell is going on here?"  That was accompanied by an old Army vet's revulsion that the barracks, uniforms, and prestige of a hallowed American military institution were being used to showcase support by junior Army officers for what I consider racist black supremacist politics.

Then I started reading reader reactions to the many articles that mushroomed all over the internet, including the one written here at AT.  It was while reading comments to this piece that what was bothering me about the hundreds of responses I'd read here and elsewhere gelled in my mind.  I'd expected the widespread angry reaction, but what I had not expected was the openly expressed racial bitterness and censure directed at a group of young women who without question had made a very thoughtless and truly dumb mistake.  Some of those comments were absolutely venomous and left no doubt that their venom sprang from a very deep racial antagonism.  There was much discussion that these young officers were only on that porch by virtue of affirmative action and that their demonstration confirmed a common lack of emotional control among Africans.  There were many questions regarding their intellectual qualifications to be there, and only the rare commenter ventured that there might be some very bright young women in that group.

Don't get me wrong; I was once an infantry NCO, and as such, I would have been furious with any second lieutenant who showed such a poor lack of judgment as to bring such public disapproval on my unit and my soldiers.  Were I her platoon sergeant, I'd be having a really intense discussion with that butterbar on the basics of leadership, and if the lieutenant chose to blow me off, then she'd be having a likely more intense discussion with the company executive officer.  Similar feelings to mine were expressed by many veteran commenters, both retired officers and enlisted, all of whom are well aware of the foolhardiness of any officer openly demonstrating such political racial solidarity.

But the main takeaway from this incident is that had this same event taken place ten years ago, it would have drawn similar media attention but most likely fewer critical comments by readers, and most assuredly the racial intensity and hostility expressed in those comments wouldn't have been even close to what they are today.  Most certainly a large number of them, especially here at American Thinker, would have been blocked for being too racially insensitive – but now, after almost eight years of a black president, they're just part of the acceptable racial narrative.  It's no secret that Eric Holder was speaking for his boss and setting out the racial position for the Obama administration when he described black felons as his people.  Obama's recent black college commencement address where he lapsed into black vernacular demonstrates that it's still in place.  Gullible voters put Obama in office and kept him there all this time based on the hope that he would end racial strife. They may as well have hoped for the Tooth Fairy to leave it under their pillows.

If Obama wants to know what his real legacy is, he should start reading web comments.