Barack Obama’s speech on race in America this week sparked a spirited discussion in a variety of corners, but as we’ve all experienced, sometimes a discussion can go off in dumb directions. The New York Daily News’ Errol Louis tackled the flap over Obama’s comparison yesterday of his grandmother to a “typical white person” — a comment that drew the ire of Obama’s conservative critics (and a few of his more rabid liberal detractors).
There’s a new anti-Obama storyline whipping through cyberspace at the speed of stupid. Put simply, some Internet nitwits say Obama’s comment that his white grandmother – who made racist remarks and was fearful of blacks – was a “typical white person” just proves he can’t stop alienating white voters.
Never mind that Obama’s point, made casually Thursday on a Philadelphia radio show, was to emphasize the important truth that whites, including his elderly grandmother, are slowly winning the fight to purge their hearts of poisonous prejudices.
That message was swiftly discarded as a gaggle of bloggers and correspondents – whose collective contribution to an honest national dialogue about race has been nil – pounced.
“Barack Obama basically called all white people racist,” wrote blogger/radio show host Taylor Marsh on the Huffington Post, neatly avoiding the inconvenient fact that such a libel from the biracial candidate would include (or half-include) himself.
Other political Web sites echoed Marsh’s sentiment – Oooh! He said ‘white person’! Now he can’t be President! – and conservatives dutifully added it to their talking points.
That’s an understatement. The right quickly pounced, insisting that Obama must not like white people if he thinks the “typical” white person harbors racist tendencies.
This is all a bit much.
It’s fair to say Obama’s comments on the radio show were worded poorly. For that matter, it’s not unreasonable to think that if John McCain alluded to a “typical black person” in an awkward way, we’d hear about.
But to suggest that Obama’s off-hand remark is somehow a major scandal seems wildly excessive. Looking at the context, it’s clear Obama was not denigrating all white people. Referring to his grandmother, the senator said:
“She’s extremely proud,” he said. “The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn’t. But she’s a typical white person who — if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know — there’s a reaction that’s been bred into our experiences that don’t go away, and that sometimes come out in the wrong way, and that’s just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through it. And what makes me optimistic is you see each generation feeling a little less like that.”
“Obama basically called all white people racist”? C’mon.
On Fox News’ morning show, the conservative crew was so excited about this that they spoke of little else for two hours. Eventually, Chris Wallace felt compelled to complain on the air.
When one Fox News personality complains to other Fox News personalities about “two hours of Obama bashing,” you know it’s getting excessive.
I’m glad Obama sparked a national dialog, but it’d be far more encouraging if the discussion were a little less foolish.
