veiled racial attack, and they pointed to the hypocrisy of ryan's insistence on cultural persistence for policy. and as is frequently the case, coates on march 18th made a contribution to this discussion that was especially insightful. he pointed to the similarities between congressman ryan's culture statement and president obama's repeated inknvocations cousin pooky when talking to a black audience. coates was interested less in lambasting this president, than reminding us about the slippery assumptions that are ubiquitous. white conservatives do this pathologyizing, of course, just look at congressman ryan. white liberals do it, see president clinton's determination to end welfare as we knew it. black conservatives do it. just look at the new black conservative magazine, "american