Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has apologized for remarks he made back in 2008 that questioned then-senator Obama’s authenticity as a black man. Given that the senator has implied that we who oppose the big spending, big debt, government bailout and takeover agenda of Congress and the President are acting out of racist motivations, his hypocrisy is large enough to be seen from space.
Harry Reid’s remorse is prompted because these unfortunate comments recorded in a book coming out soon. His remorse and apology is at least in part meant to preempt any political fallout. President Obama has immediately and unconditionally accepted this apology. So have those on the left who derive their political influence by being arbiters of who is and who is not “correct” on matters of race. These same actors are not so forgiving of those who are not politically useful to his party members and leaders like Speaker Pelosi and President Obama. If there is power to be gained by such hustlers, don’t count on the same kind of graciousness.
Harry Reid’s comment would lead a rational person to understand that the senator believed that there is some set of attributes by which a black man is authentic, and absent those attributes, he is not. It is contemptuous of individuality, it is at odds with the profoundly American ideal that we are each our own man and are born unencumbered and free and able to be who we will.
This was not a youthful indiscretion. Less than two years ago, one of the most powerful men in America thought that there was a right way and a wrong way to be a black man. Hopefully, even at this late stage in his career, Senator Reid can update his prejudices to include men like our president. Fortunately for Harry Reid, he is politically useful and won’t have his career destroyed.
Will Russ Carnahan reflect publicly on the prejudice of his own party’s leadership? Will his sister Robin who hopes to be our state’s junior senator? I stand ready to be proven wrong, but I won’t be holding my breath. Russ Carnahan’s party has a well-established pattern of only denouncing prejudice – real or imagined – when there is a political advantage.
Perhaps the Honorable Russ Carnahan and Ms. Robin Carnahan feel that they must follow their dearly departed father’s example. After all, Gov. Mel Carnahan once participated in a Black Face skit. Can anyone say mammy? Maybe they simply want to stay out of the fray lest they loose their standing or “blackness” points.
What is known is that it is a long-standing position within the Democratic Party that to be considered an “Authentic” black man; you must be properly assessed by the “blackness” scorecard. Some past notables that have received failing grades are Justice Thomas, Condeleza Rice, Michael Steele and for a while Gen. Colin Powell, although his support for Pres. Obama has earned him his “Authentic” Black man card.
This scorecard and the criterion by which blackness is determined and the subsequent score that is recorded is rarely discussed in detail. It is considered bad form to do so save for the very basic and general broad strokes of being a Conservative vs. Liberal or Republican vs. Democrat. We never discuss the ideas of remaining loyal to broken programs, which serve only to enslave certain constituencies and make them beholden to the Democratic Party.
It would most certainly be in bad form to discuss how some of the very programs necessary to earn a proper “blackness” score are by their very nature, destructive to family cohesion, fuel the cycle of poverty, create juvenile delinquency and crime in general. These factors then lead to the perceived need for more governmental controls like “gun control” and more handouts to placate the needs of government dependents suckling at the beneficent governmental teat.
In the end, the Honorable Russ Carnahan and Ms. Robin Carnahan’s silence is in an effort to earn more points on their “blackness” score. As we all know, forgiveness for Senate Leader Reid is easily granted as a Democrat, but when a Republican, like Senator Trent Lott, uttered similar comments, we know how far political forgiveness was extended. So it appears that “blackness” and forgiveness go hand and hand.