But scholars say Obama's critics ignore a lesson from American history: Many white Americans don't like angry black men.
Oh good Lord, what a crock. Americans of all ethnicities love Samuel L. Jackson's ferocity. Will Smith is arguably the biggest star in Hollywood, and he gets angry in every movie. Michael Jordan's triumphant scowl is legend. OJ Simpson was... wait, scratch that one.
Angry black rappers sell millions of CDs. Perhaps a hundred million Americans watch angry black men battle on the basketball court -- and brutalize on the gridiron. That cheering sound you hear after a (usually white) quarterback is sacked isn't millions of white people shrieking in terror.
But wait, that's just the tip of a monstrous iceberg of stupidity bearing down on the unfortunate reader:
During a news conference last summer, Obama casually said that police acted "stupidly" when they arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates in his home for disorderly conduct after a confrontation with a white police officer.
Obama's comments infuriated many white people, and even some black supporters. Obama had to have a Beer Summit to calm the public uproar.
"He flashed genuine anger," says Ambar. "At that moment, when he touched on the issue of race, he spoke frankly and passionately about what he felt and it got him into a big deal of trouble."
Oh, I see -- Americans were upset because white people are racist, not because Obama's comments were premature, idiotic, and wrong. It wasn't because the white police officer was quickly proven to be possibly the least racist cop in America -- a guy who actually taught courses on diversity -- and Skip Gates had acted in a manner that was eminently deserving of arrest. No, no, anytime people are angry at Obama, it's because they're racist. (Like the Tea Party!)
But this is CNN, so the stupidity doesn't end with moronic race-baiting. No, we also learn FDR was a great champion of capitalism.
Ambar, from Lehigh University, doesn't think so. Obama doesn't share Roosevelt's elite background, which inoculated him from charges of being anti-American. Roosevelt came from a prominent, and wealthy, American family.
"It's easier to do it if your name is Roosevelt," Ambar says. "No one questions your love of capitalism or your patriotism."
Just as gushing oil lurks below the Gulf's surface, all sorts of ugly, racial undercurrents exist beneath the surface of American politics, Baick says
No, they're right on the surface. Most of them are on display in the people who wrote and contributed to this article.
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I have a dream. My dream is that one day people will learn to judge others on the content of their character instead of endlessly obsessing over race. It's time to stop this ridiculous, destructive racial Balkanization of America. It's time to stand up to those who would divide us along arbitrary lines for their own selfish ends and say "No more."
We're not black or white or Hispanic or Asian -- we're American.
posted by Dave on 06.09.10 at 07:08 PM
Comments
The Stupidest Race-Baiting Article Ever Written?
Nope.
It's pretty impressive, but the gold standard for me was the guy who said that "Socialist" was codeword for "black".
What in the world are these poor people going to do with themselves when they find out Obama's actually a white guy born to a white woman and raised by white people?
Oh, the humanity!
The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Don?t bang your head!
The Stupidest Race-Baiting Article Ever Written?
Nope.
It's pretty impressive, but the gold standard for me was the guy who said that "Socialist" was codeword for "black".