Identity Politics and Sotomayor

This is an excellent article from the Washington Post called "Whose Identity Politics"?

It calls out Whites for the "code language" that is used to cover up their "inherent objectivity".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR2009071302605.html?hpid=opinionsbox1 

An excerpt:

Being white and male is seen instead as a neutral condition, the natural order of things. Any "identity" -- black, brown, female, gay, whatever -- has to be judged against this supposedly "objective" standard.

Thus it is irrelevant if Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. talks about the impact of his background as the son of Italian immigrants on his rulings -- as he did at his confirmation hearings -- but unforgivable for Sotomayor to mention that her Puerto Rican family history might be relevant to her work. Thus it is possible for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to say with a straight face that heritage and experience can have no bearing on a judge's work, as he posited in his opening remarks yesterday, apparently believing that the white male justices he has voted to confirm were somehow devoid of heritage and bereft of experience.