Harold's Left:
At this point I'm certain that everyone has heard about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's comment about President Obama. His comments are detailed in the new Washington gossip book Game Change, "He [Reid] was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama - a 'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,' as he later put it privately."
So of course this introduces a myriad of issues. Is it acceptable language? Does he have a point? Does this compare to former Senator Trent Lott's comments? Finally, what does this say about American race relations?
I'm certain that if Harry Reid could take his comments back he would. They are of incredibly poor taste, even if he's saying something that many people would perhaps agree with. However, Reid understands the political dynamic that exists in America when it comes to race. Moreover, this is not just a political dynamic, but one the exists in nearly every facet of American life. The reality is that if Barack Obama, regardless of his intellectual ability, was darker, more Southern, and spoke in a way that was more like Dr. King, he may have had a tougher time getting elected, period.
In my personal life I am aware of this.
Does Harry Reid have a point? Absolutely, if anything this says more about the rest of America's views toward African-American culture than about Harry Reid's racial attitudes.
What's most despicable here is the right-wing's reaction to this. Bozos like Michael Steele and his Republican cronies are calling for his resignation and that there is a double-standard for conservatives. There isn't. Trent Lott said that America would have been a better place if segregationist presidential candidate Strom Thruman would have been elected. That is completely different than saying that Barack Obama will be a strong presidential candidate because of the realities of American culture. What's more is that Sen. Reid has a long history of fighting for issues of social justice, while Trent Lott had a history of being aligned with segregationist organizations in Mississippi like the CCC (Conservative Citizens Council formerly know as the White Citizens Council) and voting against the MLK holiday that we will celebrate this coming weekend.
The more stunning and important issues are the comments of Clinton and Blagojevich.
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"The reality is that if Barack Obama, regardless of his intellectual ability, was darker, more Southern, and spoke in a way that was more like Dr. King, he may have had a tougher time getting elected, period."
Agreed Harold. What this means is that Harry Reid doesn't know how to articulate this issue without sticking his foot in his mouth. I daresay that many white men of his age are the same way, whether they are racist or not, Republican or Democrat. This, to me, seems to be a blunder of language and syntax, instead of intent. Therefore, it seems to be more forgivable than words said by others, that are clearly NOT blunders, and are INTENDED to hurt. For example:
"Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons." - Rush Limbaugh
There's a clear difference in what Limbaugh has said, and what Reid has said. They're MILES apart in intent, and meaning. One is intended to hurt, the other is clumsily pointing out a sad fact of race relations in the USA.
January 11, 2010 4:12 PM