As the Democratic primary process drags on through the spring and summer in a virtual tie, candidates Clinton and Obama (and their surrogates) are likely to highlight their gender and race, respectively. That makes sense, since each is trying to attract every superdelegate and those are the only traits that divide the candidates.

On policy, they both proclaim Iraq a failure and our economy a shambles. Both believe ordinary Americans can’t be trusted with responsibility and must be nannied by the federal government. Identity politics is about the only idea today’s liberals have left.

But the movement Obama started earlier in this campaign cannot be stopped. “He’s post-civil rights movement,” Walter Jacobs, chairman of the department of African-American and African studies at the University of Minnesota, says.

That’s where our country will soon be as well: post-civil rights movement.

All too often, those who benefit by promoting racism make it sound as if our country is divided into armed camps -- with blacks fighting whites -- when in fact race relations are better than they’ve ever been.

The days of government-enforced segregation are long past. The days of government-enforced affirmative action should soon be, as well, when we finally celebrate our successes and embrace a brighter future.