Look, nobody really doubts that the White House is working to get Trent Lott to step aside as Majority Leader, so the invaluable BuzzFlash can relax. But the fact is, Bush won't get out front and center and say Lott has to go. Andrew Sullivan can insist all he wants that Bush's CYA speech on December 12 was a "Sister Souljah moment" with phrases that belong in Bartlett's -- we aren't buying it. If Bush would use some of his precious political capital and call openly for Lott's ouster, thus alienating his party's throwbacks, that would be a Sister Souljah moment. And if this really is a signal moment in the history of the GOP, a moment when everyone has to choose sides because the party's soul is in the balance, and if Bush is the great racial progressive Sullivan and his fellow Bush coat-holders say he is, that's just what Bush would do. Instead, we get this:

President Bush issued a strong public rebuke of Mr. Lott last week, but did not call for the senator to step down from his leadership post.

For the White House, the Lott matter is a delicate one. Advisers to Mr. Bush are concerned that the dispute could hurt the party's image and affect the administration's agenda, but the White House does not want to be seen as meddling in Senate affairs….

…As he has over the past several days, [Ari] Fleischer today continued to put forth the president's position that Mr. Lott should not resign, and said no more on the subject.

But several Republicans close to the White House said today that the administration would like Mr. Lott to step down but was increasingly nervous about appearing to intervene in the Senate's business.

"They are bending over backwards to be careful because they want to avoid angering Republican senators," one influential Republican said....

So I'm standing by this post from last night.

"Either you believe in freedom, and want to -- and worry about the human condition, or you don't....

“...there is a value system that cannot be compromised, and that is the values that we praise....These are values of freedom and the human condition....

" [A] leader must combine the ability to listen to others, along with action."
--Bush, finding it much easier to talk tough when the subject was kicking some foreign guy's ass than he does when talking about race in America today.