by Mark Silva
Two months into the administration of the first African-American president, Liz Sidoti of the Associated Press takes a look today at some of the "old racial stereotypes and Internet-fueled falsehoods'' about President Barack Obama that have "flourished.''
There was that New York Post cartoon portraying the president as a monkey, that California mayor resigning after circulating a picture of watermelons on the White House lawn, the "magic mulatto'' email making the rounds of the Net. And there are those relentless questions about Obama's own citizenship and religion.
"Disproved and disputed claims about his religion and citizenship, namely untruths that Obama is a Muslim and isn't U.S.-born, zip across chat rooms and dominate the blogosphere,'' Sidoti writes. "Fringe critics largely are responsible for perpetuating the lies, but even elected officials have raised them.''
The achievement of one man in breaking the nation's racial barriers has not "entirely changed the dynamic of a country founded by slave owners,'' she suggests.
""There's certainly no lessening of racially charged barbs aimed at the president," says Anita L. Allen, a University of Pennsylvania law school professor who has studied race relations for years. "In fact there may be more, some vicious and cruel by his enemies and some distasteful and playful by his friends."
Obama, for his part, maintains that all the celebration of the history that he made with his election "lasted about a day,''' with his inauguration, and that crisis-consumed Americans will judge him by an entirely different standard.
""Right now the American people are judging me exactly the way I should be judged, and that is are we taking the steps to improve liquidity in the financial markets, create jobs, get businesses to reopen, keep America safe," Obama said at his second prime-time televised news conference last week.
Even writing about this subject invites commentary which civilized Americans aren't going to like, yet, as Attorney General Eric Holder, the first African American attorney general, Obama's pick, notes, a more forthright conversation may be warranted in "a nation of cowards'' on the subject.of race.
Still, Sidoti notes, "there remain some people in the United States unable to accept that the country elected a self-described "skinny kid with a funny name" who was born in Hawaii to a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas.''
"Consider some of these incidents since Obama took office Jan. 20:
-- The New York Post apologized in the wake of protests over a cartoon that appeared to portray Obama as a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police. The tabloid said it was mocking federal efforts to revive the economy and making light of the animal killed by Connecticut police after it mauled someone. Critics said the cartoon echoed stereotypes of blacks as monkeys.
--The mayor of Los Alamitos, Calif., Dean Grose, forwarded an e-mail showing a watermelon patch on the White House lawn. "No Easter egg hunt this year," it said. Grose had said he wasn't aware of the stereotype that blacks like watermelon. He stepped down from his job anyway.
--A police detective in Harrison, N.Y., was suspended over racial comments on his Facebook page. Rich Light reportedly wrote on the social networking site that under Obama, the Rose Garden "will be turned into the watermelon garden," that there will be a "KFC set up right in front of the White House."
--An e-mail apparently in wide circulation refers to the biracial Obama as "the magic mulatto" and shows a cartoon of him with large ears and a wide nose as it mocks his policies as liberal and "commie"-like. It also alleges that Obama's birth certificate is fake.
"In an argument popular on the Internet, Obama's critics claim he is ineligible to be president because he is not a "natural-born citizen," as the Constitution requires. Critics assert that his Hawaiian birth certificate, which Obama's campaign posted online last summer, isn't authentic and that Obama was actually born in Kenya, his father's homeland. A federal judge threw out a lawsuit questioning Obama's citizenship and said the case was a waste of the court's time. The Supreme Court tossed the questions. Yet this hasn't satisfied some.
The rumor-mongering is not limited to Internet rumor-mongers.
"In February, an Alabama newspaper reported that Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) was asked during a constituent meeting whether the Obama citizenship rumor was true. According to the account, he said, "Well, his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate. ... You have to be born in America to be president." Shelby's aides later said the senator had also said he was confident Obama is a citizen.
"Florida Rep. Bill Posey, a Republican, has drafted legislation that would require presidential candidates to submit their birth certificates, a move Democrats say is intended to question Obama's citizenship. Posey's measure led the Florida Democratic Party chairwoman, Karen Thurman, to send a fundraising e-mail accusing Republicans of "smearing" Obama.''
Comments
I think the Romney camp will keep stirring the pot on all the religion and birthplace rumors about Obama.
Why?
In the hope the eventual backlash will serve to drown out the inevitable stories that have and will continue to circulate about Romney's religion and about plural marriage in his own family.
In the same way way that Billybob Clinton's character defects made Bush possible, they hope continuing the attacks on Obama will lead electorate to discount this sort of "background attack".
Clinton's sins of course prompted a soft-pedaling of criticism of Bush's "youthful indiscretions". Who cared, e.g., if Bush & Cheney were not "in harm's way" in VietNam if Clinton skipped service altogether? Who cared about Bush's drug use when Billybob was cavorting with interns? Etc.
By continuing the "background rumor machine" Romney's people may hope the public will come to conclude the whole subject--religion, possible polygamy, etc.--to be irrelevant.
That would help Romney, would it not?
Posted by: ornery | March 30, 2009 10:24 AM
"There was that New York Post cartoon portraying the president as a monkey . . ."
Did it?
It showed a dead chimp with bullet holes, and one of the cops saying something like, "Now we'll have to get somebody else to write the next stimulus bill." Myself, I think that it failed on a multitude of levels; the chimp that mauled a woman didn't write the stimulus bill, it wasn't funny, on and on. Obama didn't write the stimulus bill either; only those who are looking for something to be offended by (and there are too many such in this world) would make the connection.
Remember, too, that George W. Bush was routinely depicted in political cartoons as a small monkey with big ears. Where was the indignation then?
Mark, it seems that I'm gadflying you quite a bit today, but you're just a target-rich environment all by yourself!
Posted by: DaveB | March 30, 2009 11:20 AM
Obviously, ignorant racist rants are unacceptable. Unfortunately, the media's fawning treatment of Obama during the campaign has fueled much of the questioning that has arisen. Other Presidential candidates have had their citizenship questioned without the question being deemed "racist." (Goldwater, McCain). It is difficult to have an honest discussion about race when even Silva here wants to paint questioning as racist. Do we accept blatant racist remarks from whites against blacks - No. Do we accept the same from blacks against whites - actually, yes. This is the frustration of white people - the double standard. Obama benefitted from it. Indeed, many blacks and white voted for Obama because he is black. Those who did not vote for him because he is black generally do not support Democratic Presidential nominees anyway. So, Silva, if you want an honest discussion of race - stop the race baiting, acknowledge the media's complicity in the matter, and demand the same level of scrutiny and accountability from black elected officials as you do from whites.
Posted by: Bemused | March 30, 2009 12:52 PM
America is obviously very racist since 93% of black Americans voted for Obama and against that Cracker McCain.
Posted by: DWB | March 30, 2009 2:21 PM
I think, Bemused, you might want to read your post, and then look in the mirror; you're the same way when it comes to sexism.
Posted by: rupert | March 30, 2009 2:43 PM
Rupert, as usual you make no sense whatsoever. I know you consistently claim there is no sexism, or that they're working on it, or that there are other things more important than that. I wasn't talking about that in my post. I was talking about the absolute hysteria that Obama's media army engages in whenever someone even starts to discuss race, and then wonders why we're a nation of cowards when it comes to discussing it. Similarly, you and your fellow Obama-ites are unable to discuss women's issues. Rather, you resort to calling me names, and suggesting that it's all in my head, there is no sexism or misogyny anywhere ever in the land of Obama. Silva and James consistently demean Palin on this blog because of her attractive looks. And they go ape-#$@& (oops, was that racist, too?) if someone talks about race in a way that is unpleasant to them. I take the fringe racists as total outliers - much like those African Americans who marched in support of the man who killed four policemen in Oakland. Or the woman who on election night told the police that they can't do anything to her now that Obama is President because she is black. There are goofballs everywhere. But to suggest that all people of a race should be held accountable for the actions of a few is, well, racist. Now, I never called you a sexist, Rupert. But clearly Silva and James are based on how they treat women in politics and fail to demand equal condemnation of those who utter sexist hatred as they do go after those who espouse racist rhetoric. So, go ahead Rupert, and think that people are only racists, but never sexist. Imagine unequal pay and unequal opportunities for women don't exist. Pretend Obama got worse treatment in the media than Hillary and Palin. Imagine away, Rupert.
Posted by: Bemused | March 30, 2009 4:05 PM
Imagine away, Bemused. Totally miss my point and falsely accuse me of believing sexism doesn't exist. It does exist, but not everyone who doesn't like Sarah Palin is sexist, despite your constant claims. Your hatred of Obama completely clouds your viewpoint. By the way, I didn't call you names.
Posted by: rupert | March 30, 2009 9:49 PM