The Middle-Aged White Man
I'm not exactly sure, but I don't think that what Barack Obama intended when he was talked about starting a dialog for a discussion about race in this country, that it should be the opening to let out the inner racist.
However, now that the word "race" has been spoken by Obama, it appears that the media machine feels that it has been granted the OK to make the race all about race. For example, Obama was interviewed on a local Philly sports radio show, Obama damage controlled?, and was asked about his grandmother, whom he referred to in his speech. He responded that she didn't harbor any racial animosity, but was merely "a typical white person" of her generation. The remark was parsed (all 3 words) and played and replayed -- even being cited as evidence that Obama's the real racist. Obama's 'typical white' remark on WIP offended some. See also, DAN GROSS: Wake Up White People!.
Of course, the truth is that the only people who would truly be offended by the remark is the "typical white person" who believes that political correctness is a conspiracy to inhibit their inalienable right to be a bigot. The rest of us understood perfectly what he said -- and meant -- by the phrase and don't disagree with his point.
Speaking of "white people" and the presidential race, John Edwards was on the Jay Leno show the other evening and although there was speculation that he might announce an endorsement of either Obama or Clinton, he held off. See Edwards unlikely to endorse. Instead, he discussed with Leno whether his choice to run as a middle-aged white man was a good idea.
2 comments:
Barack Obama called his Grandmother a 'Typical White Person'. Now you can get it on Shirts, Stickers, Hats, Buttons, Mugs and More from TypicalWhitePerson.MyShirtSucks.com
Without question, Barack Obama spewed out quite a few sound bites that fail the "rules of political discourse" as enforced by the media against white politicians who dare to talk about race. So kudos to your blog for pointing that out. However, at the same time there continues to be an even worse double standard than that of public discourse. The far worse double standard is in prosecutions. Why is it that famous successful black people get jailed with Mann Act violations but white Eliot Spitzer does not get charged with any crime? Why is it that a black Mayor gets indicted for telling a lie about his marital infidelity but white Bill Clinton does not? Only after a special prosecutor is appointed to investigate the long history of organized crime dealing and protection by Eliot Spitzer, for starters, will you and all the other pundits be able to start saying anything about racism, and your inherent assumptions that racism is not the most fundamental determinant of law enforcement discretion, abuse, and corruption.
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