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Dept. Of Non-Racist Commentary.
The Washington Times Wes Pruden on President Barack Obama (via Thinkprogress):
It’s no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of “the 57 states” is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.
Kathleen Parker said pretty much the same thing during the election last year. I've already expressed my feelings on people who believe being "American" is a genetic exclusivity that belongs solely to whites, and I won't repeat those arguments here. I'll just note that it's still OK in 2009 to make the argument that white people are the only "true Americans" in major newspapers, even with a black man in the White House. No, especially because there's a black man in the White House. For some reason, suggesting that black people as a whole aren't really "American" is justified because it's seen as a personal attack on the president, rather than what it really is: soft white nationalism.
But hey, these days, you can drop n-bombs like loose change or refuse to marry interracial couples "for the children" and not be a racist. There are no racists in America, except for people who think that Americans of color should be entitled to the same rights as those with the white skin "blood impulse" of "real Americans."
-- A. Serwer
COMMENTS (6)
Hmm, hack columnist employed by bizarre Eastern messianic religious cultist lecturing us on what it means to be a "real American?" Too bad irony is dead.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 17, 2009 11:28 AM
The day is young, of course. But I'm curious to see if there will be any fallout resulting from this column.
Somehow, I doubt it.
That worries me because, if anything, racism in political commentary is becoming normalized. There's no shame in crossing those lines anymore.
And in our supposedly liberal media, the most audacious and unapologetic violator is Pat Buchanan. I mean, if even allegedly left-leaning MSNBC (this is false, of course) can't divine the difference, then what hope do we have?
Posted by: blackink12 | November 17, 2009 11:31 AM
America is not a country; it is an economy. So who cares?
Posted by: Hammersmith | November 17, 2009 11:34 AM
Good post. And then there is the ridiculous assertion that Hawaii is out of the American mainstream. I can almost guarantee you that the person who wrote that has never been out here... Or if he has, he never left Waikiki. Hawaii has its regional differences, to be sure, but so do Arizona, Georgia, and ex-governor Palin's home state. It's a state; he's an American. Get over it.
Posted by: winer | November 17, 2009 12:08 PM
you read racism, (and sure, it's there) but I also read an attitude about Hawaii as not being American (takes me back to when my half black/half Jewish college roommate at an elite east coast institution asked me if I had to go through customs). The point is not that Hawaii should be more "American"--the definition of "American" keeps changing.
Posted by: JMS | November 18, 2009 1:04 PM
"Hmm, hack columnist employed by bizarre Eastern messianic religious cultist lecturing us on what it means to be a "real American?" Too bad irony is dead."
I'd like to point out that this commentor is anonymous. coward.
Posted by: shaun | November 18, 2009 6:03 PM