It’s tempting to ignore most of Rush Limbaugh’s nonsense, but this one’s both more offensive and more important than most of the garbage he shovels.
On the June 2 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, while discussing Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, Rush Limbaugh asserted that the Democratic Party was “go[ing] with a veritable rookie whose only chance of winning is that he’s black.”
As Media Matters for America noted, Limbaugh said on his May 21 broadcast that “Barack Obama is an affirmative action candidate” and asserted during his May 14 broadcast that “[i]f Barack Obama were Caucasian, they would have taken this guy out on the basis of pure ignorance long ago.”
Now, I certainly know not to expect sophisticated social commentary on race relations from drug-addled, right-wing talk-show hosts. But we’ve heard Limbaugh’s point more than once this year.
Atrios noted that that the idea that Obama’s race gives him a huge advantage is bizarre: “One of the hilarious if somewhat disgusting themes we’ve heard from certain quarters is that Obama will win because he’s black. It’s quite an amazing thing that no other African-American figured out that all they had to do was go work in the state legislature, become a US Senator, and then run for president and there’d be no stopping them.”
Quite right, and yet, we’ve nevertheless heard Limbaugh’s argument elsewhere. Geraldine Ferraro, for example, insisted a couple of months ago that Obama is “very lucky” to be an African-American candidate. “[I]f Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” she said in March. Ferraro added, “It wasn’t a racist comment, it was a statement of fact.”
Given Limbaugh’s and Ferraro’s analysis, it’s probably worth taking a closer look at this “fact.”
I suspect there are a number of Americans who are excited — if not genuinely elated — by the notion that the United States might elect its first African-American president. For these people, the color of Obama’s skin gives him an advantage, inasmuch as it creates an added motivation to vote for him.
The mistake, I believe, is to assume that these people represent a large percentage of the American electorate. Ferraro said Obama has a “huge” advantage because he’s black. Limbaugh said Obama’s “only chance of winning” is the color of his skin.
On its face, the whole argument seems kind of silly. As Obama himself said a while back, “The quickest path to the presidency [is not] I want to be an African-American man named Barack Obama.”
Josh Marshall once argued:
There’s no doubt that Obama’s race is the central factor in allowing him to consolidate almost unanimous support from African-American voters, especially in the South. But African-Americans make up only about 13% of the population. And does anyone doubt that that advantage he gains there is not balanced at least to a substantial degree by resistance to voting for him among white voters? […]
You might support Obama or not, think he’s qualified or an empty suit but suggesting he’s only where he is now because he’s black is something much worse than outrageous. It just seems obviously false.
And in response specifically to Ferraro (though it applies equally well to Limbaugh), Kevin Drum added a valuable angle that shouldn’t be overlooked:
Implicit in Ferraro’s statement is the idea that if Obama were a charismatic young white guy, there’s no way he’d be getting any attention. And that’s just plain crackers. Charismatic young John F. Kennedy won the presidency in 1960. His brother, charismatic young Robert F. Kennedy, attracted huge support in 1968 and might have become president as well if he hadn’t been assassinated. Charismatic young Gary Hart nearly stole the 1984 Democratic nomination from Walter Mondale. And charismatic young Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992.
Being young and charismatic has been a pretty good combination in the Democratic Party for the past 50 years. And being against the Iraq war from the start is a pretty is a pretty good credential in the Democratic Party this year. Contra Ferraro, if Obama were a white man he’d still be getting plenty of attention.
I don’t doubt Limbaugh will keep making the argument, and others will no doubt pick it up and run with it. But it really doesn’t make any sense.