It should be possible to acknowledge that @JoeBiden would be infinitely better for African-Americans than an actual white nationalist in the White House — while making clear that the Thanksgiving-uncle racial reflexes of an elder like Biden need to be worked on and altered.

It is not a sin to have come of age at another time, with other mores and language and assumptions. It is a sin not to work on yourself and change them when you carry this degree of responsibility for the lives of others.

The truth is, there are millions of Joe Bidens in America, steeped in the racial reflexes of another time.

All of them must change. And any of them who proposes to lead us all needs to publicly own their limitations on race and tell us what they’re doing to get better.

I love Twitter, where some of you read this as me being a Biden apologist, though I've called his racial attitudes disqualifying in a primary when there were still other choices; and some of you say I'm smearing him to help Trump win.

Maybe I'm a free man saying what I think.