Harry Reid’s defenders argue that the Majority Leader merely used inartful language.
But Reid’s praise for Obama’s skin tone and accent revealed his own background assumptions about the rest of black America: that most black Americans aren’t as educated, intelligent and well-spoken as then candidate Obama.
Reid needs to live in the present. Educated, intelligent, and well-spoken black Americans of every skin tone are everywhere – and have been for decades. They didn’t run for president, but at least one, Colin Powell, very likely would have won if he had.
The Senate Majority leader’s comment that Obama’s light skin color was also an asset in his quest for president was equally disturbing. According to Reid, Americans would “embrace” a light-skinned black for president over a dark-skinned one. (Does he include himself?) This comment also insults many non-black Americans who weren’t consumed with the exact shade of Obama’s black skin color but rather enthralled by his platform. In hindsight, Reid’s remarks reveal he was blinded by Obama’s race and didn’t bother to see him as a candidate with ideas.
As RNC Chairman Michael Steele reminded us this weekend in his talk show appearances on the subject, if a Republican had said those things, he would have immediately been called on it. But not only Reid, but also Chris Dodd, Robert Byrd, and Joe Biden drop ethnic remarks with impunity.
Reid has apologized to the president and black Americans. But he cannot apologize for the assumptions that shape his outlook. It is disappointing and most of all insulting to blacks for Reid to view Obama as a novelty among the rest of us.
5 responses so far
1 mlloyd // Jan 12, 2010 at 11:36 am
Thanks for taking up this important cause. Even more important for the country’s black population is the still-present wage gap between blacks and whites. This would truly be a great moment for Republicans to capitalize by pushing to investigate and resolve this problem as old as America:
http://ideas.repec.org/p/lvl/lacicr/0916.html
2 handworn // Jan 12, 2010 at 12:18 pm
You say “Educated, intelligent, and well-spoken black Americans of every skin tone are everywhere – and have been for decades” and seem to think that this contradicts “most black Americans aren’t as educated, intelligent and well-spoken as then candidate Obama.” Both are true.
Frankly, most Americans of any kind aren’t as educated, etc. as Obama. But if we’re going to tell the truth regardless of what some people wish to see, regardless of whether some people could become discouraged by it, we’ll admit that there still aren’t enough educated, etc. black Americans in the public eye to make their presence no longer novel. Do you think noting that fact in public somehow must necessarily mean we want there to be fewer? Your reaction is hypersensitive, and it troubles me.
3 sinz54 // Jan 12, 2010 at 12:22 pm
What Americans do NOT want, is a black candidate for President who runs on a platform of racial grievance and white guilt.
What attracted millions of voters to Obama’s candidacy was that he refused to play that game.
If the candidate talks like Thomas Sowell or Allen West, the voters won’t care how dark his skin is. They’ll consider voting for him.
But if the candidate talks like Al Sharpton or Reverend Wright, the voters won’t care if the candidate’s skin is nearly as light as a Caucasian. They’ll tune him out.
4 balconesfault // Jan 12, 2010 at 12:43 pm
sinz: If the candidate talks like Thomas Sowell or Allen West, the voters won’t care how dark his skin is. They’ll consider voting for him.
I would love to believe that you are right – but I doubt it. At least if you extrapolate “the voters” to mean “all voters”.
There was a study done recently where a correlation was made of immigrants success based on skin shade. Participants were grouped by education, and by English skills. Even normalizing for those factors, it was found that lighter skinned immigrants from the same ethnic backgrounds had greater economic success than their darker skinned counterparts.
And personally, I don’t think that intelligence is correlated to melatonin.
We are getting much better as a society. We still have progress to make.
5 rectonoverso // Jan 12, 2010 at 4:43 pm
You are the one blinded by race. Not Harry Reid.
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