JAMES TARANTO: ‘Voter Suppression,’ Debunked: A black activist’s surprising admission. “Hardy’s assessment of the 2012 election, however, directly contradicts the claim that voter ID laws actually suppress minority voting. According to her, they have precisely the opposite effect. . . . A common academic definition of ‘racism’ excuses racial hostility or bigotry on the part of minorities on the ground that one can’t be racist unless one has power. But the main thrust of the postelection racial commentary has been triumphalist, not downtrodden: Obama’s victory is understood precisely as a show of minority power and white powerlessness. Can the left really have it both ways? Well, they can certainly try.”