Aaron Goldstein
When it was revealed that Senator Harry Reid had said during the 2008 Presidential campaign that Barack Obama was "light skinned" and had "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one" I had to scratch my head. This, after all, is the man who only last month likened Republican opposition to Obamacare to opposition to the abolition of slavery. (1)
Besides who uses the word "Negro" in everyday conversation anymore? Apart from a baseball fan that might make reference to the Negro Leagues in discussing Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson it is difficult to imagine in what circumstances one would use that word. But if Reid uttered "Negro" in attribution to Obama then one must wonder on what other occasions has it passed through his lips?
Yet let’s put those questions aside for the time being. Because if one thinks about it this incident has given us as much an insight into President Obama as it has the Senate Majority Leader. After Reid apologized to Obama on January 9th, the President made this statement:
I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years, I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice and I know what's in his heart. As far as I am concerned, the book is closed. (2)
Translation: Obama needs Reid to shepherd Obamacare through Congress.
Although health care reform has been at the centerpiece of President Obama’s domestic agenda it has been Reid, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who have done a great deal of the heavy lifting often out of public view. (3) The last thing Obama can afford is to have Reid forced out as Senate Majority Leader. If Reid’s resignation doesn’t kill Obamacare then it would most certainly delay its passage. So of course the book is closed where it concerns Harry Reid. President Obama wants his vision of health care reform passed come hell or high water. One cannot help but think that if Reid had burned a cross on the White House lawn that President Obama would have responded by extolling his passion for social justice.
Given what’s at stake for Obama politically if it doesn’t pass, other prominent African American Democrats have also come to Reid’s defense. Attorney General Eric Holder did call Reid’s remark "unfortunate" he also said "but I don’t think that there is a prejudiced bone in his body." (4) This, of course, is the same Attorney General who called his fellow Americans "a nation of cowards" for our alleged unwillingness to talk with each other about race. D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton went further and assailed Republicans for criticizing Reid:
While Sen. Reid has been producing for African-Americans, many of his critics were opposing him on these same issues. Majority Leader Reid has a record. They do not. Words matter, but what matters most are the actions of a man whose committed career on our issues speaks for itself. (5)
Norton did not explain exactly how Reid has been producing for African-Americans. But the fact that Harry Reid "has a record" apparently allows him to state that President Obama has "no Negro dialect" and keep his job. However, if you do not have a record and attribute the word Negro to President Obama then you are instantly branded with a scarlet letter and declared persona non grata.
But as long as we are talking about the 2008 campaign let us remember what Barack Obama said during a Democratic fundraiser in Jacksonville, Florida:
They're going to try to make you afraid of me. He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. And did I mention he's black? (6)
Of course, neither John McCain nor any other Republican brought Obama’s race into the campaign. Not that it stopped other Democrats from playing the race card anyway. Let us not forget when Georgia Congressman John Lewis shamefully likened McCain and Sarah Palin to George Wallace, the segregationist Governor of Alabama turned independent presidential candidate. (7).
But in all honesty what else can one expect of the Democratic Party today? It is a party who representatives and supporters are eager to characterize Republicans and conservatives as harboring the worst sort of racism imaginable. A white person who identifies himself or herself as a conservative and votes Republican might harbor no racial animosity towards African Americans whatsoever. But should that same white, conservative Republican publicly oppose President Obama’s plans to overhaul our health care system then that opposition must therefore be based solely on the President’s skin color. Many Democratic politicians and their supporters honestly believe that hatred and evil lurks in the hearts and bones of every Republican and conservative in the country.
Yet the most powerful man in the United States Senate can claim President Obama is "light skinned" and hasn’t a "Negro dialect" but so long as he is on board with the President’s policies then no harm has been done. After all, The Anointed One and his acolytes believe they know what is in Harry Reid’s heart and bones. In the grand scheme of things the words spoken by his allies matter less than the words never spoken by his adversaries.
Simply put, Harry Reid’s words are no skin off President Obama’s nose.
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(1)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/07/reid-compares-health-care-reform-foes-slavery-supporters/(2)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/09/AR2010010902141.html(3)
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/01/healthcare-senate-house-democrats-obama.html(4)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/11/us/politics/AP-US-Reid-Holder.html(5)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31315.html(6)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2040982720080620(7)
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/1008/John_Lewis_invoking_George_Wallace_says_McCain_and_Palin_playing_with_fire.html
