Former President Clinton sought to mend fences during his visit to City of Refuge Church in Gardena on Sunday, one of four African-American congregations he addressed two days before Democrats in 22 states vote for a presidential nominee.Clinton made a direct appeal to black voters on behalf of his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, invoking parole reform and Hurricane Katrina. He did not mention her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, by name, but alluded to him favorably, saying that either candidate would break a glass ceiling.

“I’m not against anybody,” Clinton said. “I get why this is a hard election. I waited my whole life to vote for an African-American for president. I waited my whole life to vote for a woman for president. … It’s such a cruel irony to see an embarrassment of riches in this campaign.”

Polls indicate that black voters strongly favor Obama, who would be the first black president. Some blame Clinton for injecting race into the South Carolina primary campaign, which Obama won in a landslide thanks to overwhelming support in the black community.

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Commentators are talking, and rightly so, about how young voters are flocking to Barack Obama. Their overwhelming support gave Obama his Iowa margin, kept him just a few points behind in New Hampshire and Nevada, and contributed to his massive South Carolina victory. Young voters haven’t always turned out historically, but they’re responding to Obama’s message, and together with his equally massive support from African Americans and strong appeal to independents, their passionate enthusiasm could help him expand the Democratic base enough not only to win in November, but to win decisively.

Obama also offers the chance to make this new generation part of an enduring Democratic coalition–because once young voters support a particular party a few times in a row, they’re likely to gravitate toward that party for the rest of their lives.

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Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama notwithstanding, the world still seems to be ruled by white men. Is this the result of racial and sexual discrimination in the workplace? Or are other factors more important—for instance, that too few black kids attend good schools, or that women usually interrupt their careers to have children? The answer is far from academic, because if we want to change a situation, it’s a good idea to work out what might be behind it.

Economists have been leading this investigation for longer than one might think. Contrary to popular belief, “the dismal science” did not acquire its name because of Thomas Malthus’ gloomy predictions. The title was bestowed upon us in 1849 by Thomas Carlyle, who attacked John Stuart Mill and his fellow political economists for their “dismal” support for emancipation, and their insistence that former slaves, women, even the Irish, were all equal.

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CLEVELAND - They had small means and big hopes of owning a house. But African-Americans snared in the US mortgage crisis have seen the American dream turn into a nightmare many call “financial apartheid.”The storm triggered by risky “subprime” loans has left many in ruins, forced out of their modest homes and furious at falling victim to financial dealings that have taken a particular toll on minority families.

“People of color are more than three times more likely to have subprime loans,” concluded the organization United for a Fair Economy in a recent report which estimated that minorities have seen between 163 billion and 278 billion dollars of their equity go up in smoke since 2000.

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