I’ve been partly irritated and mostly amused by the lefty blogosphere, the constant fretters who are now netrooting around for reasons to be disappointed in Barack Obama. He’s tacking toward the center! He’s trying to please the Heartland! He disagrees with Wes Clark!
I kept trying to find the words to express this, and then Andy Borowitz went and done it for me:
The liberal blogosphere was aflame today with new accusations that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) is trying to win the 2008 presidential election.
This political season in the U.S. is going to be about race. It’s going to be about a lot of things, but that particular closet is going to get opened up and swept out, and about time. Some mean things are going to be said, some ugly opinions are going to be expressed, and some remarkable discussions are going to be held. I think this is GREAT.
My guy Leonard Pitts is going to cover this, you betcha. Go read another good one. Money quote:
The need, the abject eagerness, of some white people to wear the victim hat is something I have noted with alarm in recent years. They are motivated, I think, by the fact that some black people make wearing the victim hat look like so much fun. Meaning that African America has too often been caught crying ‘’racism'’ reflexively, crying ‘’wolf!'’ repeatedly, refusing, where perceived racial insult is concerned, to differentiate between the profound and the petty. We cry racism when the justice system is unjust or a Don Imus spews vitriol. Unfortunately, we also cry it when a Michael Jackson gets hauled up on charges of child molestation or a white bureaucrat uses the unfortunate, but inoffensive, word “niggardly.'’
Christopher Beam over at Slate has a funny piece (unless this is the sleep deprivation talking, in which case don’t read it, even if it’s really, really short and very, very funny) up with suggestions for the Obama campaign. If you don’t know, they’ve recently gotten proactive, with a Web site and everything, about fighting those nasty Internet rumors. Beam’s argument has been that this just reinforces the myths and that instead they should make up their own, self-serving ones. Such as:
Barack Obama is a PATRIOTIC AMERICAN. He has one HAND over his HEART at all times. He occasionally switches when one arm gets tired, which is almost never because he is STRONG.
Barack Obama is a DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. His favorite book is the BIBLE, which he has memorized. His name means HE WHO LOVES JESUS in the ancient language of Aramaic. He is PROUD that Jesus was an American.
Just go read it. It’ll take like 6 seconds. And wake me when you’re done.
Selling at a booth today at the Texas Republican’s convention in Dallas.
Stuff
