The essence of this story, which you have to be British to read, is yet another gaffe by the administration. Racism is not rampant in Spain. They are twenty miles across the Straits of Gibraltar from Africa. I've stood on the mountain top in Granada ski area and looked at the Atlas mountains in Morocco. The country was occupied by the Moors who built most of the cities south of Burgos and Zaragoza, including Cordoba and Sevilla and Granada.
But while the State Department alibis that the memo was fifteen months old and out of date, we should not miss two important facts--racism in a national culture does not emerge overnight and dissipate in a week or two. It is institutionalized and socialized into the populace.
And, fifteen months ago was well into the tenure of the current administration--i.e., the Bush administration can't be blamed.
Just Another Sojourn in Paradise
Check the photos of the First Lady and her posse. I got a laugh of about the "Michelle Welcomed at Marbella Airport"--there isn't a soul there but the SS and her protocol staff.
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