(originally published in The Washington Post on 10/20/2011)

What Obama could learn from Clinton and Johnson on racial inequities
By Maya Wiley

I remember when Sen. Barack Obama confronted race in America in an eloquent and powerful 2008 speech, promising to work for a “more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America.” He pledged to take on “the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through.” Sadly, Obama is falling short of the president who accomplished the most for communities of color since Lincoln: white Southerner Lyndon Johnson. He is also falling short of another white, Southern president who pursued a national dialogue on race: Bill Clinton.

History shows that when presidents confront racial inequity, America sees vast improvements. President Johnson pushed for passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Black voter registration rates in …