Bill Clinton: “Yes. We're all too polite about it. Mr. Lehrer. How do you get people to talk about race? [Mr. Alexie remarked that…”

“Yes. We're all too polite about it. Mr. Lehrer. How do you get people to talk about race? [Mr. Alexie remarked that people were always talking about race, though the language sometimes was coded.] Mr. Lehrer. But do Indians talk about race? Mr. Alexie. Oh, yeah, we're actually probably a lot more conservative and racist than any other single group of people. We're much more reactionary. It's funny; politically, we give our money to Democrats, but we vote for Republicans. [Laughter] I'm going to leave that one alone. [Laughter] Mr. Lehrer. How do you get honest talk? Do you think there is honest talk about race? [Ms. James responded that people were most likely to talk about race by relating personal experiences.] Ms. Chao. I think the bottom line is, I think there has to be not allocation of programs based on preferential treatment but that there is equal opportunity. And going back to Clarence's issue about merit---- Mr. Lehrer. We're talking about talking bluntly about race. Ms. Chao. Right. I think this is part of it. And I think the President wanted me to answer Clarence's comments, Clarence's question about merit. Mr. Lehrer. Okay, but we have to--I have to interrupt you all now to say, thank you, Mr. President, and thanks to all the rest of----”