Tuesday, December 30, 2008
RNC, Please
Ignoring that old adage about what to do when in a hole, Republican National Committee members choose to keep digging. When a candidate for party chair distributes a CD with a song entitled "Barack The Magic Negro," members turn their righteous anger on -- other candidates for the post who criticized the first candidate:
Just to clarify the chronology of events:
1)Liberal David Ehrenstein writes an LA Times column in May 2007 saying that whites like Obama because he is the cultural "magic Negro" who assuages white guilt -- the safe choice who doesn't remindhim them of the tough, scary, homeboy on the streets.
2) Conservative song satirist Paul Shanklin, inspired by Times column, writes a song parody to the tune of "Puff The Magic Dragon" (though, as a colleague notes, "Barack The Magic Negro" actually scans better to the tune of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer").
3) Rush Limbaugh then plays the song -- apparently part of Rush's crusade to expose the media silence on the fact that Obama isn't really, you know, black ("Half-rican" is Rush's preferred descriptor).
4) Chip Saltsman, former Tennessee GOP chairman and Mike Huckabee campaign manager -- and pal of Shanklin -- makes a Christmas gift of a CD with a bunch of Shanklin songs, including "Magic Negro."
5) The Hill reports on it. Sh*tstorm ensues.
Oh, some may note that Blackwell's move -- and the reaction of several RNC members to it -- aside from being politically astute, actually proves Ehrenstein's original point: By washing away any perceived racial sin that Saltsman may have committed Ken Blackwell has, for certain GOPers, become their own "magic Negro."
Well, ya can't spell "ironic" without R-N-C.
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Welcome to the world of GOP internal politics.North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth said he was “disappointed” when he heard about the story and questioned Saltsman’s viability as a candidate going forward.
“There are a lot of things about Chip that would have made a good a RNC chairman, but this has definitely hurt him,” he said in an interview with Politico. “With less than a month to go, Chip needs to be talking about where he wants to lead the party, and he is not going to get
that opportunity.” Not everyone is so sure, with some RNC members contending
that [Michigan Chair Saul] Anuzis and [incumbent Mike] Duncan may have actually hurt their candidacies with their responses. “Those are two guys who just eliminated themselves from this race for jumping all over Chip on this,” one committee member told Politico. “Mike Duncan is a nice guy, but he screwed up big time by pandering to the national press on
this.”While South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele have decided to stay away from the controversy, offering no comment, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who would be the party’s first black chairman, has drawn notice for his vigorous defense of Saltsman.
“Unfortunately, there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race. This is in large measure due to President-elect Obama being the first African-American elected president,” Blackwell said in a statement. “I don't think any of the concerns that have been expressed in the media about any of the other candidates for RNC chairman should disqualify them. When looked at in the proper context, these concerns are minimal. All of my competitors for this
leadership post are fine people.”
As a result of his position, a source close to the race said that at least 12 uncommitted committee members have contacted Blackwell to thank him for his support for Saltsman and have expressed anger toward Duncan and Anuzis “for throwing a good Republican under the bus.”
Just to clarify the chronology of events:
1)Liberal David Ehrenstein writes an LA Times column in May 2007 saying that whites like Obama because he is the cultural "magic Negro" who assuages white guilt -- the safe choice who doesn't remind
2) Conservative song satirist Paul Shanklin, inspired by Times column, writes a song parody to the tune of "Puff The Magic Dragon" (though, as a colleague notes, "Barack The Magic Negro" actually scans better to the tune of "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer").
3) Rush Limbaugh then plays the song -- apparently part of Rush's crusade to expose the media silence on the fact that Obama isn't really, you know, black ("Half-rican" is Rush's preferred descriptor).
4) Chip Saltsman, former Tennessee GOP chairman and Mike Huckabee campaign manager -- and pal of Shanklin -- makes a Christmas gift of a CD with a bunch of Shanklin songs, including "Magic Negro."
5) The Hill reports on it. Sh*tstorm ensues.
Oh, some may note that Blackwell's move -- and the reaction of several RNC members to it -- aside from being politically astute, actually proves Ehrenstein's original point: By washing away any perceived racial sin that Saltsman may have committed Ken Blackwell has, for certain GOPers, become their own "magic Negro."
Well, ya can't spell "ironic" without R-N-C.
Labels: Chip Saltsman, Ken Blackwell, parody, RNC Chairman, Rush Limbaugh
Monday, December 29, 2008
Chocolate Chip & Vanilla Fudge
It's good to see that some things never change. Consider the Republican National Committee contest for chairman: One Chip Saltsman -- endorsed by Mike Huckabee for whom Saltsman was his campaign manager -- apparently is committed to the GOP living up to its role as the "Stupid Party" (as opposed to the Dems'"Evil Party"). Saltsman decided -- as part of the political schwag that inevitably comes with campaigning for party chair -- to distribute a CD that included the "Barack The Magic Negro" parody popularized by Rush Limbaugh (and based on an LA Times column) several months ago.
I thought Limbaugh was pretty stupid pushing the parody crap during the campaign. Why play to one's own stereotype (fairly tossed or not)? But, still, Limbaugh, for all his pretensions to being a "serious" political analyst, is ultimately an entertainer and commentator -- and a good and successful one. If he wants to play the parody -- as he's done with other song parodies in the past -- sure, why not?
But Saltsman isn't an "entertainer" or "commentator." He wants to be the mouthpiece and face of the Republican Party. All jokes have context. In the real world of free speech, we may not like the fact that black comics get away with racial humor, whereas white ones rarely do. Unfortunately, that's the way the world works. Furthermore, a joke pushed by a professional satirist or talk show host has a different impact when shared by a professional politician.
Saltsman's move is stupid in another way. He happens to have two black opponents in the race for GOP chair -- Michael Steele and Ken Blackwell. Leaving that song on the CD opens Saltsman up to the charge that he is not-too-subtley suggesting to RNC members that they might want to avoid supporting their own "Magic Negro" candidate (AKA "celebrity") in the RNC race. Blackwell, playing a canny politics of his own, came to Saltsman's defense, while current chairman Mike Duncan and Newt Gingrich -- also discussed as a possible candidate denounced the song. Of course, all candidates have their own reasons for making their statements. Duncan and Gingrich want to look inclusive, while Blackwell can afford to be solicitous -- while picking up support from RNC members who appreciate his towing the conservative view on race ("It's the media's fault for making this a racial controversy.")
Saltsman's action, however, went across the line in a far more basic way: Obama isn't just Top Democrat; he's the soon-to-be President of the United States! Even as a joke, the wouldbe head of the opposition shouldn't be making "Negro" comments about the POTUS. It would be the equivalent of the Democratic Party chair candidate releasing a CD in 2001 calling George W. Bush "The Magic Silver-Spooned Hillbilly." There's a certain level of respect that the president should receive from the head of the opposition party (no, it's not always practiced, but it should be).
If Saltsman doesn't "get" that, well, he's just too stupid to be chairman.
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I thought Limbaugh was pretty stupid pushing the parody crap during the campaign. Why play to one's own stereotype (fairly tossed or not)? But, still, Limbaugh, for all his pretensions to being a "serious" political analyst, is ultimately an entertainer and commentator -- and a good and successful one. If he wants to play the parody -- as he's done with other song parodies in the past -- sure, why not?
But Saltsman isn't an "entertainer" or "commentator." He wants to be the mouthpiece and face of the Republican Party. All jokes have context. In the real world of free speech, we may not like the fact that black comics get away with racial humor, whereas white ones rarely do. Unfortunately, that's the way the world works. Furthermore, a joke pushed by a professional satirist or talk show host has a different impact when shared by a professional politician.
Saltsman's move is stupid in another way. He happens to have two black opponents in the race for GOP chair -- Michael Steele and Ken Blackwell. Leaving that song on the CD opens Saltsman up to the charge that he is not-too-subtley suggesting to RNC members that they might want to avoid supporting their own "Magic Negro" candidate (AKA "celebrity") in the RNC race. Blackwell, playing a canny politics of his own, came to Saltsman's defense, while current chairman Mike Duncan and Newt Gingrich -- also discussed as a possible candidate denounced the song. Of course, all candidates have their own reasons for making their statements. Duncan and Gingrich want to look inclusive, while Blackwell can afford to be solicitous -- while picking up support from RNC members who appreciate his towing the conservative view on race ("It's the media's fault for making this a racial controversy.")
Saltsman's action, however, went across the line in a far more basic way: Obama isn't just Top Democrat; he's the soon-to-be President of the United States! Even as a joke, the wouldbe head of the opposition shouldn't be making "Negro" comments about the POTUS. It would be the equivalent of the Democratic Party chair candidate releasing a CD in 2001 calling George W. Bush "The Magic Silver-Spooned Hillbilly." There's a certain level of respect that the president should receive from the head of the opposition party (no, it's not always practiced, but it should be).
If Saltsman doesn't "get" that, well, he's just too stupid to be chairman.
Labels: Chip Saltsman, Ken Blackwell, Michael Steele, RNC Chairman
Friday, December 05, 2008
"Black"-Steele In The Hour of Chaos
Sad as it might be to contemplate, the RNC Chairman's race could lead to more black-on-black violence.
Former Ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell became a candidate for party chair Friday afternoon, making -- with former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele -- the first time two African Americans are seriously battling it out for the chairmanship of a major party.
This is rather interesting: Blackwell is perceived as more "conservative" than Steele. But both men are pro-life and both believe in "traditional marriage" (then again, so does Barack Obama). Steele's apparent "moderate" public profile has more to do with his inclination to work with often-dissident liberal Republicans like Christie Todd Whitman.
Question: Could a Blackwell-Steele contest ultimately split the black vote, thus allowing a white candidate to slip in? Right.
More seriously, would Blackwell himself also be seen as a "celebrity" candidate -- and thus anathema to some RNC members ? After all, he's never been a committeeman -- nor even been a party chair. On the other hand, could his more conservative profile cause RNC members to back his candidacy as a compromise between the more traditionalist segment of the committee and those who -- in this year of Obama and Palin -- believe the party needs a fresh non-traditional Repubican to promote its policies?
Which way will the "Party of Lincoln" go?
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Former Ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell became a candidate for party chair Friday afternoon, making -- with former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele -- the first time two African Americans are seriously battling it out for the chairmanship of a major party.
This is rather interesting: Blackwell is perceived as more "conservative" than Steele. But both men are pro-life and both believe in "traditional marriage" (then again, so does Barack Obama). Steele's apparent "moderate" public profile has more to do with his inclination to work with often-dissident liberal Republicans like Christie Todd Whitman.
Question: Could a Blackwell-Steele contest ultimately split the black vote, thus allowing a white candidate to slip in? Right.
More seriously, would Blackwell himself also be seen as a "celebrity" candidate -- and thus anathema to some RNC members ? After all, he's never been a committeeman -- nor even been a party chair. On the other hand, could his more conservative profile cause RNC members to back his candidacy as a compromise between the more traditionalist segment of the committee and those who -- in this year of Obama and Palin -- believe the party needs a fresh non-traditional Repubican to promote its policies?
Which way will the "Party of Lincoln" go?
Labels: Ken Blackwell, Michael Steele, RNC Chairman
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Barack Obama -- A Black Republican's BFF?
So, Hillary Clinton first gives rise to Sarah Palin and now this. Political diversity fever -- catch it!!
A few of my homies talk about being an African American Republican in a Barack Obama world (A measure of how pathetically persistently lonely can be the "professional black Republican" existence: Of the four people quoted in this article, I personally know/met three of them -- and I haven't worked for the party in nearly a decade).
Don Scoggins sings a similar lyrics as yours truly:
Gee, thanks, Barack. Couldn't have done it without you.
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A few of my homies talk about being an African American Republican in a Barack Obama world (A measure of how pathetically persistently lonely can be the "professional black Republican" existence: Of the four people quoted in this article, I personally know/met three of them -- and I haven't worked for the party in nearly a decade).
Don Scoggins sings a similar lyrics as yours truly:
Scoggins, 63,...says his support for Obama wasn't just out of a sense of racial pride. But he was moved by Obama's forceful speech last June on personal responsibility, particularly among black men. "In the black community," Scoggins says, "the biggest problem is the deterioration of the black family. McCain wasn't interested in that — and I don't think he could ever have been the person to articulate it." Scoggins has faced criticism in some conservative circles for supporting Obama. But, he says, "Sometimes you have to lose in order to win. The Republican Party losing [is] forcing it to re-create itself into a party for the 21st century."Former Maryland state party chairman, lieutant governor and 2006 U.S. Senate candidate, Michael Steele has already thrown his hat in for national party chairman (the election is in January):
Michael Steele does not diminish the power of the Obama victory. "As a black man, of course I am very proud of his accomplishment," Steele says. "It is at once uplifting — of not only a people but a nation — and sobering in light of the work that remains to be done to address the systemic erosion of black wealth, health and opportunity." But Steele predicts that Obama as President will find it difficult to appease his more liberal supporters as he is forced to moderate views on the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other issues.And yet, Mike Memoli, Marc Ambinder's assistant, shares this nugget about a possible, ahem, "dark horse" in the committee race:
Steele says if he is selected as the RNC's chairman in January, he will move swiftly to temper the party's tone, using the model of Ronald Reagan, who, he says, "made it cool to be a conservative." But one of Steele's more daunting mandates will to be to broaden the GOP's base of black voters. "I'll tell local chairmen, 'If you want to be chairman under my leadership, don't think this is a country-club atmosphere where we sit around drinking wine and eating cheese and talking amongst ourselves. If you don't want to drill down and build coalitions in minority communities, then you have to give that seat to someone who does."
That will be a particularly difficult challenge during an Obama presidency. But Steele says that people have to be reminded of the origins of the things over which they take issue with the GOP. Many blacks, he says, "look at the party as this bastion of racism, which it isn't. Democrats have to keep defining us as racists because that's how they stay in power. But just look at the inner-city school systems and the poverty levels that have been high for years. It's systemic, and you can't blame Republicans for that. I haven't heard Barack Obama talk about the recidivism rate among youth in the prison system, or drug addiction. I don't know what he's going to do. But I know we're going to be developing strategies that put us in places where we need to talk about entrepreneurship. We're going to offer something more."
The Hotline reporting [Monday] morning:There are already several other -- Caucasian -- names in the mix for the RNC chair, but an energetic battle between two black candidates could get the party far more attention than the usual party leadership races get when the party is out of power. And suddenly, the traditionally completely marginalized black Republicans find not one, but two of their own having prominent roles in the future of the party. Talk about change we might believe in!After receiving calls from RNC members asking him to run for RNC chair, ex-OH Sec/State Ken Blackwell is now considering a bid (Wake-Up Call!Blackwell was soundly defeated in his Ohio gov bid in '06, after a
sources).
controversial stint as the secretary of state there. He's since been writing at Town Hall and heading up the Coalition for a Conservative Majority....
As candidates in 2006, Blackwell mostly held to his strict conservative views on abortion, taxes and gun rights, while Steele presented a more moderate face in the deeper blue Free State.
Gee, thanks, Barack. Couldn't have done it without you.
Labels: black Republicans, Ken Blackwell, Michael Steele, RNC
