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1/12/2010
Burri: Failing Political Correctness 101
One doesn’t have to be a Democrat to say something stupid and get away with it. It just seems that way sometimes. Last week, for example. Caution: I’m about to argue in defense of several high-profile Democrats. You've been warned.
Let’s start with Harry Reid, who issued an apology last week:
The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate apologized on Saturday for comments he made about Barack Obama’s race during the 2008 presidential bid.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described then-Sen. Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect.” Obama is the nation’s first African-American president.
“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments,” Reid said in a statement.
Also last week, President Bill Clinton was reported to have said something equally unfortunate:
The day after Iowa, [Bill Clinton] phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.
My first reaction was: wow. How can they not know not to say things like that?
My second reaction was the same as everyone else’s: why aren’t the usual liberal suspects throwing the ropes over the tree branches right about now? If a Republican had said those things, the you-know-what would hit the fan. Examples here, here, and most amusingly here. The fur would be flying.
No, wait, not fur. That’s kind of comparing black people African-Americans people of color to animals, isn’t it? So scratch that. No, wait, not scratch…I mean…oh, you know what I mean.
Which is, of course, the point. You know what I mean, but my words can still be interpreted to mean something else.
So: Reid calling Obama “light skinned?” Well, it is a reference to his skin color. Like calling a Greek “swarthy.” Or someone from Sweden “pale.” Calling a beach bunny “tanned.” Or someone who spends all his time blogging “pasty.”
Using the word “negro?” Sheesh, that’s out of touch. We didn’t even use that word when I was a kid. But racist? Or just a slip of terminology? There was a time during Reid's life that “Negro” was perfectly acceptable.
Saying Obama “would have been getting us coffee?” Yeah, because he’s just a black guy, see, so he should be doing menial service. Or…was Clinton referring to Obama’s resume? A resume which, compared to his own, or Kennedy’s, or…well, almost every other presidential candidate in history, was light.
No, not light! I didn’t mean light! I only meant that he’s inexperienced, and Clinton was making a metaphor to illustrate that inexperience.
Some of those examples might be insulting, to one degree or another. But they’re not racist. It's the why that makes them racist: why was it said. But that's almost impossible to answer.
Obama promised us a “post-racial society.” I’d like to think that the warm-and-fuzzy atmosphere of liberal forgiveness surrounding Reid’s comments proves that we’re there. See, in a post-racial society, people could make potentially-offensive but innocently-meant comments without having a whole hornet’s nest shoved down their throats. And that would be the case whether those people were Democrats or Republicans; liberals or conservatives; white, black, brown, whatever.
Is that what we're seeing? I'd like to think so. The next time a Republican says something so stupidly tone-deaf as Reid and Clinton, we’ll find out for sure.
Lance Burri blogs regularly and most often politically incorrectly via his site, The TrogloPundit.
COMMENTS
Reid simply chose artless words to state the obvious. Even black commentator on Fox News last night agreed Obama was helped by being lighter-skinned and not speaking what Barbara Billingsley in "Airplane" called "jive."
He merely stated the obvious, as I did in the Wisconsin State Journal in Dec. 2006:
"A good portion of Obama's attraction for white folks is that he's black, but he looks and sounds very white. He's candid and humble so far, which is refreshing and worth listening to and a good start."
A shame he dropped the humility and candor.
timbeaux (Tue Jan 12 07:16:26 2010)
"A shame he dropped the humility and candor."
I don't believe he ever really had any. He just read what scrolled up on the teleprompter. Even I can give blockbuster speeches if an expert writes them days or hours before.
Public speaking is very much like acting for those capable of a convincing delivery. It's always been obvious that's what the Moonbat Messiah's been doing - just about all image. And what substance is there would drive people away, not draw them in. The Grecian temple; the 'new dawn' logo; the soaring rhetoric that will heal the planet, all designed to create an image. All a big lie!
Duke (Tue Jan 12 07:51:49 2010)
OK - let's start with an honest assessment of what the Senator said. Can anyone argue the accuracy of his comments? No. But what he was implying or what he didn't say is lethal. That's the part that nobody's talking about.
By saying he's light-skinned and spoke in such a way that he could turn on or turn off the negro dialect (which we all saw him do depending on the crowd he was campaigning before), Reid was ALSO implying that a darker-skinned candidate who couldn't "turn it off" when speaking would not be a good candidate.
So much for the content of a man's character. Obviously Sen. Reid hasn't turned that 1960's corner yet.
And that is the point. This is the same guy who, when the new Capitol visitors center was opening, commented about those of us coming to see the building where our democracy plays out "You can smell them coming."
This is an arrogant man who is in no way doing the people's business - he's only there to inflate his own ego and grab as much power as he can from us smelly plebs.
Reid and his sort need to be extracted from power and those who read and take the original intent of the Constitution to heart must be sent in to clean up the mess that has been made before we lose all liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Jeff Riedl (Tue Jan 12 08:00:07 2010)
Wow, I think we can get another 2 months on this story. It's just too bad we don't have something meaningful to criticize the Dems for. But let's keep hammering on this one.
Jack Lohman (Tue Jan 12 08:23:50 2010)
Am I alone in not caring one wit if a person is purple and speaks Piraha so long as I am satisfied a person has integrity and represents my core values and beliefs?
A side note, if "profiling" is effective in politics (which is the essence of Reid's remarks IMHO), why not in national security issues?
Patricia McNaughton (Tue Jan 12 15:11:17 2010)
Patricia Mc, in answer to your question, it's because liberals decide what is politically correct.
It's amazing that Jack never notices when Democrats are pounding away at some Republican who has made a misstep and now it's "Move along. Nothing to see here." ROTFL
C.R. Stevenson (Tue Jan 12 22:31:49 2010)
CR, I "notice" these things, but I don't dwell on them or use them for political gain. If you said Reid is corrupt and must be replaced I'd jump all over him (which he is and should be). But we on this blog stay away from discussing "corrupt."
Jack Lohman (Wed Jan 13 08:42:56 2010)
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