The Angry Czeck

I remember it like it was a couple years ago.

I’m cruising in the Anger Mobile, on my way home, when NPR reports that a Democratic candidate for President just made a damaging racial gaff.

“(Senator Barack Obama) is the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

Chaos ensued! Clearly, the comment was racist! After all, few describe white people as “bright and clean.” (Although I have heard many white people described as “nice looking.”)  And furthermore, one never should call an African-American “articulate.” Not when approved words and terms are so readily available, like “dignity,” “dignified,” and the always awesome, “quiet dignity.”

Apologies were hastily made. Republicans pretended to be offended. And eventually, the candidate who delivered the careless quote dropped out of the race.

That asshole was Joe Biden, and Obama was so offended by being called articulate, clean and nice-looking that he made Biden vice-president.

Also, he might have made a penis joke.

Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is being judged for his moment of inarticulateness.

In the book Game Change, journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin reveal a once private conversation in which Mr. Reid calls Mr. Obama a “light-skinned African American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

Negro dialect? Was this conversation recorded in the 60s? Fast as lightening, Mr. Reid dialed Mr. Obama and apologized like a madman, and Mr. Obama, possibly sensing a moment of deja vu, quickly forgave the Senator. This is not enough for the Republicans, who smell blood (Reid is up for election in 2010).

“There is a big double standard here,” said RNC leader Mike Steele, who is black, on NBC’s Meet the Press. “When Democrats get caught saying racist things, you know, an apology is enough.”

You know what? Maybe.

Several years ago, ESPN went completely nuts and hired neo-con Rush Limbaugh to offer commentary during the network’s Sunday morning NFL preview show, Sunday Countdown. It was terrible, of course, because Rush was as articulate on Countdown as Dennis Miller was on Monday Night Football. Then Rush decided to add some of the flavor of his own show to the Countdown mix by injecting his views on African-American quarterback, Donovan McNabb.

“Sorry to say this, I don’t think he’s been that good from the get-go,” Limbaugh said. “I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team.”

Oooooh. Sorry, Rush. Wrong audience. If ESPN had a time machine, they would have traveled to the dawn of man and fired Rush then. They settled for canning him the next day.

But what did Mr. Limbaugh actually say? A reason we cheered for Arthur Ashe and Tiger Woods is that those men excelled in an arena that had been previously exclusive to white people. We pretend that this is not true (“I don’t see color!”), but the pioneering spirit Woods and Ashe displayed is simply part of the cache. And in Tiger’s case especially, he reaped the rewards. Limbaugh implied that the media – perhaps for the sake of simply publishing a better story – was relying on McNabb to become a dominating presence at the quarterback position, and that maybe that reliance was not being brought to fruition.

Wow. Rush wouldn’t even stand next to Jackson or Irvin!

We crucified Limbaugh anyway. He made the mistake of vocalizing what many people think, and for that there is no forgiveness.

Except, oddly, there is forgiveness for Harry Reid. Kansas City Star reporter and FOX News columist, Jason Whitlock (African American) – a man who also forgave Limbaugh in a 2009 column – recently posted this comment about Reid on Twitter:

@WhitlockJason: I don’t get the Harry Reid controversy. I don’t know any black people who wouldn’t agree with Reid’s private comment.

Perhaps with Mr. Obama in the Oval Office, it is time to have an honest dialogue about race. The things that make us uptight now should be reevaluated. A senator should be able to make a candid observation that a black man can win the presidency by simply catering to the dialect styles preferred by the majority of voters. That he uses an antiquated term like “Negro” only exposes Reid as a goober, not a racist.

Just so we’re clear, I still hate Rush Limbaugh.