Leave the Wives Alone!

I'll admit it. I'm a political wives fan.

I love them. Democrat or Republican. Especially if they're crazy in some kind of way. The more interesting the better. It was fabulous during this election cycle when almost 20 people were running for president and all their wives were out there trying to be supportive and helpful, smiling, trying to convince me that the man who loved them up is the man for America.

It doesn't matter if they're accomplished or successful in their own right. No one wants to hear that. Just grin and be the ever charming hostess.

It must be maddening.

America doesn't like it when you muck with their mythology. The public has their vision of what and who a First Lady is and she is seen, but not heard, unless her husband gives her some talking points and permits her to bat her eyes and pleasantly smile, then meekly go through the whole "I'm not used to giving speeches routine" even if they run a Fortune 500 company or inherited a Fortune 500 company.

They have to put up with mother fucker of all hoohah. Everything an American woman has to put up on a regular basis but with the volume cranked up to 11. They have to wear the mask and if you refuse to wear the mask you are eviscerated, i.e. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Teresa Hines Kerry.

How dare you not be Donna Reed and June Cleaver! Don't you know you're supposed to vacuum in heels and gaze longingly at your husband like it's 1972 and he's Al freakin' Green? Seeing a future First Lady navigate the minefield of modern femininity, gender panic and popular 1950s Singer Automatic fetish fiction makes me respect them all the more. I know I couldn't do that 24/7.

I could support my husband, no doubt. I could be tough and tenacious and look pretty all the while. But good Lord, the bullshit? The Donna Reed-meets-Claire Huxtable bullshit? That's enough to make you want to cut someone.

People really don't like it when future First Ladies act like human beings. People want their mythology. Even if it's dumb as hell. Even if it doesn't exist outside of fundamentalist Mormon sects. Even if it's illogical. Like, let's be real. Who the hell thinks Cindy McCain bakes cookies? The woman is an heiress. She's worth millions upon millions of dollars. Why would she ever be near an oven? Of course her recipe is a knock-off. She probably just had her chef write it down and the chef got it from Hershey's. Who cares?

Sayeth another future First Lady watcher:

This business about First Ladies having to have cookie recipes is bullshit. Do you think either Cindy or Michelle would ever have to be in the hot kitchen making meals for her husband and his guests. Only moron I know that ever did any cooking in the White House is Dubya and that making hot dogs to serve to and insult the British Royal family.

And I know they'll eventually insult something Michelle Obama, an Ivy league graduate and successful lawyer, didn't actually cook.

Really? Cooking and cleaning? That's still the raison d'etre? Even if you're upper middle class or better? Even if you spent your prime "home economics" years working on the bar exam?

No matter how much a future First Lady stumps for her husband, unless she's doing something immoral, like running pitbull fighting rings with Michael Vick, tricking out girls from BET Uncut videos or enslaving the children of Bangladesh to make Etonic tennis shoes for 5 cents an hour, they should be off limits. Seriously. No matter how "colorful" they are. Just because they fell in love with some dude who wanted to be president shouldn't mean they're fair game.

Why can't folks leave my crazy future First Lady's alone? I enjoyed Hillary when Bill Clinton was running in 1992. I thought she was hilarious, refusing to drop her maiden name and make everyone feel comfortable. When she barked that she could have stayed home and baked cookies but didn't I put on a black glove and raised my fist in solidarity, telling her to keep on rocking in the free world. But everyone acted like she'd committed some grave sin. Never mind a plurality of mothers work outside the home. Somehow in 1992 the prospect a woman *gasp* not baking cookies was horrifying. A First Lady is supposed to be the Comforter-in-Chief making small talk with lower level foreign dignitaries, hosting the family White House Christmas video and coming up with some bullshit literacy program to pimp.

Put on the apron, les bitches!

But Hillary didn't. Bully for her.

I like future First Wives is because of the duality they have to perpetrate. Like how Laura Bush had to quit smoking when her husband became president. Or how she killed that dude in a car accident when she was younger. It was much more fascinating that hearing about her mother in Midland, Texas and being a librarian.

I liked that Betty Ford was a recovering addict. That Lady Bird was as active in working to push Civil Rights in the south as much as her husband LBJ. I liked Eleanor Roosevelt because she also backed Civil Rights back when Civil Rights weren't cool. That she kicked it with Mary McLeod Bethune and joined a black sorority. I even liked Nancy Reagan when I disliked Ronnie.

Barbara Bush was dullsville to me when she was First Lady but became dramatically more interesting once she wasn't anymore, disagreeing with her husband on abortion and being the family's designated bulldog enforcer. I even liked Judi Nathan Guiliani. Even if she was the "other woman," like Cindy McCain was the "other woman" to the man in her life. So what if they were "dirty mistresses," as Grey's Anatomy would label them. It's their crazy flaws that make them interesting.

I don't want some 1950s fantasy Stepford Wife. I want the real. I want the quirk. I want the personality. I don't like it how the machine wants to smother their independent spirits.

The political wife is the only proof of the candidate's true humanity. The candidate has to compromise, cut-corners, morph, flip-flop, pontificate and babble away the inconsistencies. They have to be a politician. But the wife isn't a politician. She's the only symbol (besides maybe the kids) that the candidate was once a normal, flesh and blood person. That before all this drama he did what we all did. Mess around and fall in love. The wife represents the still living human spirit in the mass marketed Madison Avenue mess that has become our presidential election process. That's why I love Michelle Obama so much. She couldn't hide the realness if she tried. She won't compromise.

It's laughable how people are labeling Michelle's latest publicity push as some stunt to fix her image. Fools. There is nothing wrong with her image. She is being her brilliant self every time out the gate. She's not trying to pull some okie doke. She was intelligent, statuesque and gorgeous before she went on The View and she's still that way now after giving White House/Black Market a huge sales boost by wearing a dress sold in their stores.

Everyone should just give up the ghost and admit their are either in love with her or obsessed with her. Admit that it was the fact that she had a personality, tough but dignified, that made you either like her or hate her in the first place. Don't come up with angry black woman, Donna Reed bullshit. Just say it.

Michelle Obama keeps it real in the truest sense of that trite phrase.

I'd like to suggest that her Republican rival Cindy McCain do the same. Stop sending recipes for things, dammit. Stop the babe in the woods routine. You know exactly what you're doing. Posing in Vogue while wearing denim jeans. Dissing Michelle then running behind something when a reporter calls you on it. You're an intelligent business woman. It's demeaning to watch you diddle around, pretending that old bastard you married was molded from chocolate and magically turned into Tyson Beckford.

Seriously, Cindy. Seriously. Stop screwing around. If you want to go after Michelle, it's OK. She's a big girl (literally and figuratively at 5'11"). I'm pretty sure she can handle it.

Then I can shout future "First Lady fight!" and the battle will commence.

And while I enjoy your crazy pill-popping, charity-thieving, man-stealing patootie, Cindy, we all know which woman I'm backing.

Google Stalking: Finally! Some TJ News!

I was bored. So ... Super TJ! Yay!

It's been forever since I had any good news about my Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of TV News, CNN's TJ Holmes.

Mmmm ... delicious.

But I digress! Snob reader Fantastically Misunderstood Me came through with some huge, huge news. She claims Holmes will be Upscale Magazine's "Maleman" for August!

While I couldn't get a peep out of Haute Glam Magazine regarding their phantom printing of TJ in May, Upscale is something we can all find at a Barnes and Noble near us everywhere. Hallelujah!

Name That Rapper Solved!

The jury has spoken!

Wednesday Isonprize sent The Snob a clip from The Today Show where they threw up a picture of rapper they said was Jay-Z but who clearly was not Jay-Z, largely due to the fact he did not look like Camel Joe. He actually looked, dare I say it, handsome. Who on earth could NBC offend by not being to tell the difference between him and Jay-Z?

Joe Budden! You're that rapper! Be offended! NBC thinks you and Jay are one in the same!

I, who hasn't paid attention to hip hop since the Shiny Suit Era, only recognized Budden for his hit "Pump It Up," but had never seen the video or a picture of him. But after doing a little research (re: Googling), I learned that Budden should be offended by this snafu on so many levels, as Budden dissed Jay and told him he needed to retire already last December.

“It was disrespectful, but it was a diss with a point: Stop rapping. Hang it up,” Budden said as he explained the reason for the dis. “You’re getting paid to be a president. Be a president. We loved you as a rapper. One of the best to ever do it. Now it’s time to do some other things.”

“Everybody is calling American Gangster a concept album. It’s a Jay-Z album,” he continues. “He’s talking about the same exact sh*t he’s talking about on Reasonable Doubt. Where’s the concepts? He just needed something to attach it to, which he did. He needs to be a president and start putting out some fucking artists.”

Um ... I agree! I've been saying this since "Hard Knock Life." Since Jay "retired" a few years back. But then, I'm not a Jay-Z fan. I'm one of those individuals who thinks Jay would rank a lot lower on the NYC rapper list if Biggie hadn't died and Mace, who I also don't like, hadn't found Jesus. But that's just me. What do I know?

I do know one thing though ... Joe Budden should diss NBC on an underground mixtape. That's just unforgivable. Dude isn't no where near has hideous as Mr. Hawaiian Sophie.

Thank you all for playing the "Name That Rapper" game!

Name That Rapper!

Black Snob regular Isonprize posted this to me under my threat on AverageBro's live-blogging of the BET Awards.

(E)ither Jay-Z got better lookin' or I just forgot what Jay-Z looks like, cause that ain't Jay-Z.

Is that Jay-Z??? Or maybe I got a pair of them glasses in that commercial ... Damn.

Watch the above video on the Barack Obama's second time on the cover of Rolling Stone and skip to 1:09 minutes into the video.

Fellow Snobs, that dude is not Jay-Z, but I haven't followed hip hop closely since the Shiny Suit Era. So I ask you ... name that rapper! Or singer, I have no clue who that dude is but he is NOT, not I tell you, JAY-Z!

As Isonprize pointed out that man, for one, is not ugly enough to be Jay-Z. They don't call the man "Camel Joe" just for poops and giggles. And for twosees, damn, what the hell, NBC? The Today Show is made in New York. Jay-Z proclaimed himself the King of New York like, I don't know, five minutes after the Shiny Suit Era ended with Biggie's death when Jay started committing heresy by referring to himself as Jay-Hovah (H-to-the-Izz-Oh!) and rapping to lyrics from the Broadway musical "Annie."

I realize the folks producing The Today Show may not listen to hip hop and might not know who Jay is (even though they reported on his wedding to Beyonce, and Beyonce and Jay have been on the show), but that is NOT AN EXCUSE! I didn't know shit about country music, but as an entertainment reporter in Bakersfield I hung out at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace anyway. Yeah, I couldn't pick Trisha Yearwood out of a line-up, but I wasn't too ashamed to Googling her!

That said, Camel Joe and his lady love can be none too pleased about this latest snubbing. If they'd confused him with Ol' Dirty Bastard, Jay could defend himself with the egotastic rebuttle of "I'm better looking than that MFer, ya heard?" But to use a far more handsome man? Gadzooks, NBC. That's cold-hearted.

Read This Blog: AverageBro On the BET Awards

AverageBro watched so I didn't have to. Thank you, play cousin! Click here for more!

On The Radio!

I'm going to be on NPR's News and Notes today with Michael Fauntroy of MichaelFauntroy.com and My Urban Report (the source of my TJ Holmes talkin' bout himself footage). We'll be discussing racial bias, religion and politics, what makes a person "legally" black and whether or not America still needs Affirmative Action. I'll be going on the air around 12:20 p.m. Check your local listings for when News and Notes airs. If you miss it, I will post a link to the broadcast later today!

Correction: I originally had the wrong guests listed in this posts.

Men Snob Loves: Breakers and Black History Majors

Oh, What Wow! He's the Greatest Dancer
(Who Knows What Placage Is)

While exercising at the gym last night I caught the broadcast of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew and while watching it I thought of two things: "Oh my God! Dance porn!" and "I wonder if TJ Holmes can do a pop n' lock routine?"

And then my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I grabbed the handles on my elliptical machine to keep from passing out.

Then I recognized a pattern in what I considered to be attractive:

A) TJ Holmes with Aaron McGruder's brain and the ability to execute a flawless pop n' lock routine

B) Johnny Depp with Aaron McGruder's brain and the ability to execute a flawless pop n' lock routine

C) Wentworth Miller with Aaron McGruder's brain and the ability to execute a flawless pop n' lock routine.

Or D) Tiger Woods ... with Aaron McGruder's brain and the ability to execute a flawless pop n' lock routine.

What I'm saying is this -- my dream man is Crazy Legs with a degree in African American history.

I also like journalists, reformed hooligans, fey actors and fist pumping, but verbally eloquent, gentleman jocks. But there is nothing sexier than a man who can tell me the significance of Plessey v. Ferguson while doing the robot to an extended remix of "Buffalo Stance."

That is so hot on so many metaphysical levels that I can assure you, you cannot comprehend it.

First, let's dissect why I (Heart) B-Boys. I outed myself as having a B-Boy fetish June 16 in a celebrity photo post.

I like the dance crew show (as it's like my version of soft core porn), but it is very, very hard to find anything as thrilling as standing in a circle in an abandoned warehouse watching some guys do back flips off each other, nearly breaking their necks until the cops show up and shut it down.

It's really hard to go back to just watching "Beat Street" or suffer through the bad acting of "You Got Served" after some guy has taken a flying leap over your head as part of an elaborate stunt that could knock you unconscious if it goes horribly, horribly wrong.

But when it goes right. Man, that guy is hot!

But um ... I've totally never gone to an illegal dance battle in an abandoned warehouse.

Never.

I loved B-Boys back when they were cool in the 80s, then became uncool in the mid-90s and I continue to love them today, happy that they are now cool once again.

From authentic breaker anthropologists like the Rock Steady Crew to pop n' locking, cheesy boy bands, I am a connoisseur. It knows no bounds.

Por ejemplo, in the battle between the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync, I liked N'Sync because Justin Timberlake could beat box and N'Sync's worst dancer, Joey Fatone, could massacre Backstreet's worst dancer, that dude who looked like he was 40. Also, let's be honest, they could have cut Joey, Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass from the group and replaced them with Darrin Henson of Darrin's Dance Grooves and Paula Abdul and they would have been just fine.

And their dance routines would have been off the hook.

People make fun of Paula now, but that bitch can dance her ass off. And she can tap dance, incredibly, and it is hard to find a women who can pull a Gregory Hines. And she's a former Laker girl who used to choreograph for Janet Jackson. And yes, I was a fan of Paula Abdul in the 1990s as the first two cassette tapes I owned were "Forever Your Girl" and MC Hammer's "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em."

And it was no accident that both were known to be better dancers than singers/rappers but still manged to create "U Can't Touch This" and "Straight Up."

I like dancers. And I come from one of earth's most dance loving ethnicities. If you've got an ounce of the motherland in you, you like to move. But not all black people are gifted with this ability. While my moves wowed my wonderfully sweet, white Rhythmless Nation co-workers, I'm probably the Joey Fatone of my ethnic subgroup. I'm good enough to keep up, but I'm in the back of the class. I don't have the athleticism or talent of my little sister who is a theater and dance major. She is four feet and eleven inches of pure kick ass.

This doesn't stop me from loving dancers. How can you love music (and I really love music) and not love dancers? I love ballet, tap and jazz, breakers, ballroom and boot scootin' boogie. I even like interpretive dance even though I don't get it and there's no beat involved.

But specifically, I brake for reckless breakers who defy gravity. I only mention pop n' lock routines so much because I know I have a better chance of meeting a guy who can RoboCop over a guy who can actually execute the capoeira influenced moves of breakdancing. Don't get me wrong. I will gladly take one if I can get one, but it is not a requirement that you be able to spin on your head or perform a flawless Kid n' Play kick step routine (fast forward to 2:17 into the video), including the whole "grabbing your foot and hopping your other foot through it" gambit.

You don't have to do that. Just be able to Moonwalk into my heart and I'll be happy.

Now as to why the black history grad? Well, isn't that obvious? While I have fallen for a many B-Boys, from the sweet, happy-go-lucky Philosopher Kings to the "He's no damn good, girl" bad boy players, B-Boys aren't necessarily known for their keen insight on world affairs. They aren't the most well read or the most politically astute people. I don't know a Rhodes' Scholar who can get on the floor and bust a windmill. I know of an MC Stephen Hawking, but renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking can't dance.

Mostly because he's hobbled and bound to a wheelchair from ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease.

But I'm highly attracted to intelligent people. I'm a nerd with an appetite for knowledge. I'm an artist. I'm a student of the world. I can't imagine dating some gent who can't hold a decent conversation about at least one or two of my top ten things to obsess over. Like politics or history or modern sci-fi films or all sorts of cinema or international affairs or journalism or music. A man who can conjugate verbs properly while discussing subjects he is passionate about is a gorgeous man.

All I want is a guy with a graduate degree who can do the wop. Is that so wrong? A news reporter who will dance with me at a party, not act all weird and sit down while I'm busting a move with the Rhythmless Nation. Dance with me, nerd boy! What is your damage?

The closest I can get to my dream guy is watching a bootleg video of the Jabbawockeez while listening to remix of Maple Leaf Rag.

Sigh. One of these things simply will not be like the other.

Little Girl Lost

This is the seventh entry of "The Chip On My Shoulder Is A Boulder," a series on the complex relationships between black women and their mothers. The series will run through this week. Previous entries include "The Adoptee," "The Rebel," "The Gypsy," "She Did Her Best," "The Reluctant Mother" and "The Narcissist's Daughter."

When you can't protect yourself your parents are supposed to protect you. You're supposed to be safe with them. You're supposed to feel secure. But when you are treated cruelly at the hands of the people who are supposed to love you and your parents look the other way it makes you realize at the earliest of ages that you are on your own.

The Survivor's story, sadly, is not an uncommon story. Harmed and victimized by male family members with a mother in denial, happens to boys and girls regardless of race. Your parents are supposed to keep you safe, but when it comes to violence against you at the hands of your relatives you are not the relative your parents choose to protect. For The Survivor, she was the daughter her mother would not fight for.

THE SURVIVOR

My relationship with my mother is terrible most of the time.

Much of the trauma caused in my life could have been prevented my mother. I don't know how to stop blaming her or if I should stop. Among these things that I cannot forgive are her obvious preferential treatment of my older brother and not properly handling my molestation at the hands of my cousin.

My brother was very abusive towards me, he beat the shit out of me on a regular basis and she basically let it happen. It should be mentioned that he's almost 10 years older than me so he obviously should have known better than to beat up on a four-year-old. He did this until I was 18-years-old.

I was molested by my cousin when I was about three and I remember it but what I remember most is how it was swept under the rug. These things along with all the violence towards women at the hands of men I witnessed as a child has made me resent the way I was raised. I struggle with a feeling of supreme love and admiration for my mother because in my heart I feel she's a good person even if I feel she's a failure as a mother.

She's raised a criminal, my other brother died (possibly due to some form of babysitter negligence), and I am completely emotionally retarded and traumatized. Growing up, I never really felt safe and I think this has made me overly suspicious and defensive -- especially towards men. I feel like there are so many things that my mother could have done to help me but instead she spent my childhood pretending like my issues didn't exist and now I'm a non-functioning 21-year-old.

I resent that she never defended me against relatives who called me "fast" just because I physically developed quickly, or uncles who tried to touch me, a brother who hit me, a cousin who molested me, just shit I shouldn't have had to see or feel. I tried to commit suicide once and she took me to the hospital. When we came back she pretended like it never happened. The hospital psychiatrist asked me why I tried to kill myself and I told her that my mother didn't love me and if she did she didn't love me anywhere near as much as my brother (I left out the fact that my brother beat me). She told me that it was probably true but that I should get over it because life isn't fair and there will always be things we can't control but it's not a reason to hurt yourself. That really pissed me off when she said that but I later came to appreciate it.

So that is what I've been trying to do -- accept things that I cannot control or change, but I just don't know how to stop being mad at my mother.

Michelle Obama and The Slave Blood Caper

Above: Michelle Obama, below: Painting "The Battle On San Domingo," a depiction of the Haitian Revolution, the most successful slave revolt in history.

I found this item on What About Our Daughters last night.

File this one under foolishness and chicanery, courtesy of that bastion of the Civil Rights Industrial Complex, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and their president, Dr. Charles Steele:

He said that Michelle Obama has had rougher treatment than her husband because she has ancestors who were slaves, and Barack Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, does not.

“Why are they attacking Michelle Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and not really attacking, to that degree, her husband?” Steele asked. “Because he has no slave blood in him. He does not have any slave blood in him, but Michelle does.” Atlanta Journal Constitution

Yeah he said it. MLK would be so proud. What? Was Andy Young unavailable?

The sentiment over the comment was repeated at Black Political Thought where more of Steele's comments were printed.

Barack Obama is “of the system. He’s going to be in the system,” Steele told a morning gathering of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials.“Why are they attacking Michelle Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and not really attacking, to that degree, her husband?” Steele asked. “Because he has no slave blood in him. He does not have any slave blood in him, but Michelle does.

“This system is an issue. I don’t care what you say. You can’t expect the system that enslaved you save you,” Steele said. Steele admitted to the crowd that his remarks about the Obamas were intended to be provocative, but afterwards declined to expand upon them. If you ask me, his comments were idiotic, at best!

Blogger Janet Shan at Black Political Thought concludes that Steele's argument that slave ancestry is an issue is hype. Shan writes, "I don't believe for a minute that Michelle Obama is being treated roughly because she has slave blood. Hello people, how is that relevant to anything? Michelle Obama is being 'roughed' up because of her views and the fact that she is a pretty vocal and outspoken person."

I didn't know quite what to think when I initially read his comments. While some were concerned about the exploitation of Steele's comments (Rush Limbaugh has apparently already used them for fodder), it didn't really touch on the issue evolving here -- the uncomfortable reality of the embodiment of white America's conscious since 1787, black Americans.

Who is blamed for selecting Obama's "hateful" church at Trinity? Michelle. Who is pointed to being a "racist" and being the barometer of how Barack really thinks? Michelle.

Barack when negatively portrayed in the press is either presented as an unknown terror or a gullible Liberal ingenue. Michelle is vilified in the same manner as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Johnnie Cochran, insert so-called black "radical" here and every Civil Rights activist before her. She's the uppity Negro who will not shut up. She's the ingrate who doesn't worship this country despite the fact this country hasn't historically been favorable to her. She is the reminder, the full embodiment and representation of that storied black monolith portraying "how we really feel" about the white folk.

Essentially, she's the villain. She's the one who stirs the conscious and forces racist deniers to truly stare down the past and per usual, some do not like what they see.

A lot of this is projection. Just like Barack's "secret Muslim" talk is a manifestation of "fear of the other." Both Barack and Michelle have to deal with their fair share of bigotry and fear mongering. But if Barack is the "other," Michelle is the other you already think you know. Barack is viewed as being above race. Michelle is viewed as being right in the thick of it no matter what she does or says. She is a black American, not an "African American" in the truest sense like Barack is. She carries the baggage of our nation's collective guilt. She represents the conscious and subconscious. Id, ego and super ego. And their mock hysteria is based on the same primal fear that has existed in this country since Haiti's bloody revolution in 1791.

Some of our nation's most punitive decisions against blacks were born out of the fear surrounding the only successful slave revolt in the New World. The American South had its fair share of slave uprisings, but Haiti's was the most ferocious. The prospect of losing wealth and health at the hands of slaves was so strong that long after the threat had passed the punishment continued. Remnants of it still exist to this day. The belief that black people want vengeance, even though they typically ask for equality.

While Barack is sometimes seen as a "get out of bigotry free" card. Michelle is envisioned as the Angry Black Woman putting up the voodoo, intoning, "Until you do right by me ..."

So they both have to deal with racism. I would argue though that there are a host of different reactions one can have to different kinds of black people. Black Americans simply inspire a specific series of racist modifiers.

Commenter Lena at What About Our Daughter's probably put it best.

Michelle Obama is attacked more fiercely than Barack because she directly represents (to racists) those native blacks that had a long history of being hated in the U.S. long-term black Americans are considered less acceptable than many other non-whites, including even Africans.

Her presence, her lineage gives the racists easy fuel to try to shut her down, make her feel ashamed of who she is, which is why Klan-branding images, lynching jokes, etc. can be made about Michelle, not (Barack).

Basically, it's like a "remember your place, ni****," don't get uppity because this is what we used to do to you (lynch, cross-burn, branding, etc.)

The same can't be said for obama because he doesn't have that same history in America. The old skool racists insults don't apply to him, would not be relevant, if that makes any sense. I mean think about it, lynching jokes and Klan imagery from the 20s? Barack's lineage has nothing to do with that.

While Africans were oppressed and colonized too, their history is still a separate experience from the American historical experience.

I think Dr. Steele is right and he doesn't have to be quiet just to keep idiots like Limbaugh from making comments. Rush Limbaugh will make comments ANYWAY. if you say Michelle Obama is intelligent or beautiful, he'd have something to say about that to.

So on this one, I think the civil right-ers should be let off the hook. It's not playing "the race card," just pointing out a fact.