History Then and Now

A reminder why Matt Yglesias is an indispensable blogger: Apropos today's historic inauguration, he digs up a speech from 1901 by George Henry White, the last of a number of black congressman elected during Reconstruction, who promised a "Phoenix-like" return of black elected officials. Yglesias' closing sentiment--that such faith in American ideals has been vindicated--is the kind of patriotic feeling I'm happy to embrace, particularly but not only today.