Posted on 01/12/2010 4:54:07 AM PST by Kaslin
Welcome to America's longest running hit show -- the race farce, in which feigned shock and outrage lead to fawning apologies and bumbling explanations to all the wrong people. Taking offense has been reduced to low comedy in America -- as hypocrites play out their assigned parts.
S. Harry Reid was quoted in a new book as enthusing in 2008 about Obama's candidacy because he is "light-skinned" and speaks without a "Negro dialect, unless he wants one." Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post called it "beyond stupid" to use the word Negro in 2008. Liz Cheney labeled Reid's words "fairly racist." And Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele opened up to full throttle, calling on Reid to step down as majority leader.
Reid understood his part in the drama. He apologized to the president and to "any and all Americans, especially African-Americans, for my improper comments." The majority leader then made personal calls to a number of African-Americans who could, he hoped, offer remission of sins. Among these were reportedly Eleanor Holmes Norton, Donna Brazile, and ... Al Sharpton.
Actually, if you read between the lines, it doesn't look as though Reid phoned Sharpton but the other way around. The figure who became an American celebrity by attempting to frame innocent men for an invented racial attack, Sharpton issued a statement of forgiveness after noting that he and the leader had spoken. No Democrat in Harry Reid's position would dare to refuse a call from Sharpton under these circumstances. Thus does Sharpton burnish his reputation as the "go to" guy for racial absolution. Deft.
Some Reid defenders have been at pains to point out that Reid was supporting Obama's candidacy and that his words should be understood in that context. This is the part in the play when Democrats' sins are washed clean because they favor the minimum wage, health care reform, and card check. As Norton put it, Reid gets a pass because he "has earned it with long support of civil rights and … issues that matter most to African-Americans." President Obama applied the same standard, accepting Reid's apology because he has shown "passionate leadership … on matters of social justice" and because the president "know(s) what's in Harry's heart."
With due respect to the Republicans who simply could not help themselves in the face of this big fat opportunity to play turnabout, this is not seemly. It's true and glaringly obvious that the Democrats have honed this hair-trigger race sensitivity into a political tool that shoots only right not left. It's so true that no one gave Trent Lott the benefit of the doubt about what was in his heart when he said something boneheaded in praise of the 100-year-old Strom Thurmond. It's true that one word, "macaca," that no one had ever heard of before (and may or may not have had racial connotations), was enough to sink Republican Sen. George Allen. And it's true that countless honorable conservatives have been unjustly smeared as racists because they disapprove of affirmative action or oppose the teachers' unions.
But let's not get into this smarmy business.
Reid used the word "Negro." It's out of date, but is it now offensive? Is it the new "N" word? Just a blink of an eye ago, "black" was the preferred locution. Jesse Jackson decided it should be "African-American" and the country went along. But the slower adopters (even your humble columnist, who prefers less orotund expressions) sometimes still say "black." How long until that becomes a sin?
As for Obama being light-skinned, it's certainly possible that his complexion made him more acceptable to some vestigial racists. For Reid to notice that is not to endorse it. And finally, the president's lack of a "Negro dialect, unless he wants one," was clearly an important asset. Most Americans expect their president to speak standard English. Black (there I go again) speech in America ranges from James Earl Jones to gangsta rap, and it was clearly an advantage that Obama was articulate. When he chooses to adopt a black style, he does it a whole lot more authentically than Hillary Clinton managed in her embarrassing South Carolina appearance at a black (did it again) church. Remember "I ain't noways tired"?
Republicans are right, so right, that if Mitch McConnell had said what Reid said, there would be a prolonged scandal. And they are right that political differences should not be turned radioactive by the malicious charge of racism. But it's enough to point this out.
Don't join in.
I very much disagree. If we don't make the other side play by the rules they set, we are always going to lose. If the other side wants to change the rules to something more sensible now, we have to make them confess to that what they did to the Trent Lotts and George Allens was wrong.
Ford detractors often refer to the "Ford Machine". Although the word "machine" carries negative overtones in politics it is really just a negative name for a well-run political organization. No one can ever say that Harold Sr. did not establish a well-run political organization. By 1996 he was powerful enough to have his young son Harold Jr., fresh out of college, elected to take his place in congress. The move may have been prompted by the difficulties Ford faced in the 1994 when he declared that his organization was writing down the addresses of "the devils in East Memphis" who had signs in their yard promoting his opponent, Rod DeBerry.
DeBerry is an African-American...just has the good sense God gave him to be a conservative.
“I am disagreeing with Charen. Libs should be held to their own standards.”
I’m with ya! If political correctness is allowed to only be applied to conservatives we will lose. Liberals invented political correctness, they should be made to abide by it.
Admit it. You didn’t even read the editorial
I read it. I disagree with it. What is your problem, can’t handle that?
Jesse Jackson may be responsible for a lot of things but not for coining the word Afro-American.
FYI:
August 13
*On this date in 1892, the first issue of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper hit the streets. This black owned and operated newspaper has crusaded for racial equality and economic advancement for African- Americans for more than a century.
John Henry Murphy Sr., a former slave, started the paper when he merged his church publication, The Sunday School Helper with two other church publications, The Ledger and The Afro-American. By 1922, Murphy moved the newspaper from a one-page weekly church publication into the most widely circulated black paper along the Atlantic coast.
Clearly not. Being noted as a phoney and a liar is a complement to Dems. It's what they need to get elected.
Here's a couple of classic photos from a campaign stop during his failed Senatorial campaign a few years ago . . .
Let's be honest here: this guy would burn a cross on his own front lawn if he thought it would get him elected, or curry favor with ol' Robert Byrd.
The man is a PHONEY.
He claimed that Robert Kennedy and President John Kennedy put together a program that brought his father to America and that in the wake of the Selma freedom marches, his parents came together and he owes his very existence to Selma "So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I’m not coming home to Selma, Alabama."
From Barack's Selma speech:
...something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “Ripples of hope all around the world.” Something happened when a bunch of women decided they were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry, looking after somebody else's children. When men who had PhD’s decided that's enough and we’re going to stand up for our dignity. That sent a shout across oceans so that my grandfather began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who grew up herding goats in a small village in Africa could suddenly set his sights a little higher and believe that maybe a black man in this world had a chance.- Barack Obama - March 2007What happened in Selma, Alabama and Birmingham also stirred the conscience of the nation. It worried folks in the White House who said, “You know, we're battling Communism. How are we going to win hearts and minds all across the world? If right here in our own country, John, we're not observing the ideals set fort in our Constitution, we might be accused of being hypocrites.” So the Kennedy’s decided we're going to do an air lift. We're going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.
This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that the world as it has been it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I’m not coming home to Selma, Alabama.
I’m here because somebody marched. I’m here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants. I thank the Moses generation; but we've got to remember, now, that Joshua still had a job to do. As great as Moses was, despite all that he did, leading a people out of bondage, he didn't cross over the river to see the Promised Land. God told him your job is done. You'll see it. You'll be at the mountain top and you can see what I’ve promised. What I’ve promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You will see that I’ve fulfilled that promise but you won't go there.
Timeline:
1960 (President is Ike, VP Richard Nixon runs against Senator John Kennedy for the presidency)
Ann Dunham is 18. Her family moves to Honolulu, Hawaii. Ann begins classes at the University of Hawaii.
- She meets Barack Obama Sr. in a Russian-language class. Barack Obama Sr. is a foreign student from Kenya, who has a magnetic personality. Barack Obama Sr. is very opinionated, talkative and passionate. The two start dating.
- Ann tells her parents about her African boyfriend and they invite him for dinner.
January 20, 1961 JFK is sworn into the presidency.
February 2, 1961: Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. get married in Maui in a discreet ceremony. Nobody is invited. At the time of the wedding Ann is already three months pregnant with Barack Obama Jr.
August 4, 1961: Barack Obama Jr. is born. Ann is eighteen. She drops out of college after one semester in the University of Hawaii.
1964
Ann files for divorce from Barack Obama Sr. and he signs the papers.
The Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American Civil Rights Movement.
They were the culmination of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by Amelia Boynton and her husband. Boynton brought many prominent leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement to Selma, including James Bevel, who initiated and organized the march; Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Hosea Williams.
The first march took place on March 7, 1965 — "Bloody Sunday" — when 600 civil rights marchers were attacked by state and local police with billy clubs and tear gas. The second march took place on March 9. Only the third march, which began on March 21 and lasted five days, made it to Montgomery, 54 miles (87 km) away.
---- Mr. Obama, YOU LIE.
At least Hillary didn't claim that she marched and owed her entire world to the city.
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