Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour was interviewed on the CNN “State of the Union” and showed why Republicans have such a difficult time with getting minorities to rally to their side.

This week the Republican Governor of Virginia created a controversy hat trick by first deciding to declare April as Confederacy Month and, in making the proclamation, made no mention of slavery. Now the Governor did apologize later for the omission but there was still that nagging issue of celebrating a time in American history where a lot of blood was spilled and where pain still resonates today. It seems like a broken record to keep mentioning this but just because we have a black President doesn’t wipe away centuries of racial injustice in this country. Even saying that there has been centuries of injustice seems to make racial problems ancient, however with the racial incidents happening at UCSD in February and other recent racial events it is clear we are a LONG way from having the post-racial utopia some would like to say exists now.

So, knowing the controversy surrounding the Confederacy Month, I would think even if you might think it was much ado about nothing you would measure your words in response. Apparently Haley is a straight shooting kind of politician who has done something for years in his rarified air of national politics and has forgotten that the country has gone through some changes in fifty years. The optics, and especially his voice, was priceless as he gave his response to the controversy. In his thick Mississippi drawl, he said the controversy was ‘just a nit.’ ‘It’s trying to make a big deal out of something that doesn’t matter for diddy,’ he claimed.

He also went to the politician fall back plan, when you’re caught with your hand in the cookie jar, or whatever metaphor you want to use about being in an uncomfortable position, bring evidence that the other side did the same thing without addressing the fundamental merits of the core issue. Barbour was quick to point out twice in the interview that in his own state of Mississippi the Democrat lead Congress and Senate approved of similar proclamations over the years, especially in the seven years he had been Governor.

Well Governor, that’s a good thing to know that Southern Democrats in your state house would approve the measure, but why was the measure brought up in the first place? Why didn’t you refuse to accept it? In his answer on the show he said it goes without saying slavery was bad, yet when you proclaim a month where you are celebrating those who fought to separate themselves from the United States, and while you may want to use the surface argument it was for states’ rights, the underlying motivation for the war between the states is unarguably the South’s perpetuation of slavery. If you want to be honest, that isn’t something you don’t mention. That isn’t something you forget to mention when, if you live in the world most of the working class people live in, you can see descendants of slaves.

Politicians on the Republican side cannot get that racial issues will be their bane because of the attitude of people like Governor Barbour. Instead of acknowledging a mistake and leaving it like that, he had to defend it, then put in he couldn’t understand why there was a controversy, then to put the emotional kick in the gut on the issue, added that it must be OK because some of his best friends (to use a metaphorical flair) are Democrats and they approved of a similar proclamation. That doesn’t cut it.