Haley Barbour And The Persistence Of Memory

In light of Mississippi governor Haley Barbour’s recent remark that he did not remember the racial turmoil of his youth “as being that bad” (and his obligatory follow-up remark of contrition), Howard Kurtz asks, “When you contemplate running for president, your life becomes an open book. Barbour should certainly be held accountable for the insensitive way he talked about the bad old days of officially sanctioned racial prejudice. His statement today is an acknowledgement of how badly he bobbled the question. But at some point you have to ask: Shouldn’t there be a statute of limitations on this stuff?” It is not a direct response, but Rick Perlstein offers a virtual history lesson on why it matters.