The question of the moment that people seem to be asking is, "Why?". As in, "Why did Trent Lott say what he said?" The fact is, only he knows for sure, and he doesn't seem to be as interested in explaining it as he is about apologizing over it. But other people are certainly willing to speculate. Some say that he knew full well he was talking about supporting a segregationist party platform; others think he was merely trying to compliment an old man (although reminding him of his failed presidential bid hardly seems like a flattering thing to do). I suppose that it's possible that he completely forgot what Strom Thurmond's campaign platform was.

These conjectures lead us to think either one of two things about Trent Lott's character: either he's a racist, or he's ignorant when it comes to American history (or at the very least, forgetful). Maybe it's a combination of all of those things. What's fascinating is that even Republicans are angry at him, while still accusing the Democrats of taking advantage of a slip of the tongue; which seems unfair, since the Republicans practically re-invented "character politics" during the Clinton administration.

What if Lott just plum forgot that Thurmond was running on a segregationist ticket? Then our shock comes, not from horror at his beliefs, but from his crushing lack of media savvy. We sort of expect that in modern politics a lawmaker has to be aware, at all times, of the implications of even his most casual statements. The code-phrase for not doing so is, "being insensitive".

But what if Trent Lott really is a racist? It's hard to believe that the people showing the greatest outrage right now didn't suspect that Lott was a racist from the beginning. And I'm sure there are plenty of racists out there right now who can't believe this is happening, but it's not because they weren't clear about what Lott's opinions are when it comes to race -- and disappointment isn't exactly outraged. Nevertheless, are we as a nation willing to admit that, if he is a segregationist, then we have made a terrible blunder by placing him in the United States Senate? Apparently not, since he's not stepping down from office, and only a few interested parties are asking that he be statutorily removed from Congress.

In the end, what everyone seems to have lost sight of is just how little Lott has to lose from this blunder. Ok, so he doesn't get to be Senate majority leader. He still gets to be in the Senate until the next election, and there's no indication that the people of Mississippi won't keep on reelecting him (take a look at their flag sometime). It might be awhile before he has a visible leadership role in the party again, but that never stopped good ol' Jesse Helms -- or Joe Kennedy for that matter.

The GOP isn't in any real trouble either: In spite of a lousy economy, record unemployment, corporate scandals, the return of deficit spending, the disappearance of Osama bin Laden, and the looming threat of war, they did remarkably well during the midterm elections.

If Trent Lott does get reelected to the Senate again, the scary thing is not that we might have allowed a racist to have access to tremendous power; it's what this would reveal to us about ourselves.

-B. C. Silvia