Matthews on Obama: ‘I Forgot He Was Black For an Hour’ (UPDATED)
[Updated below] The echoes of President Obama’s State of the Union speech had barely receded when MSNBC’s Chris Matthews blurted out what will probably be the quote of the night. “I forgot he was black tonight for an hour…I said wait a minute, he’s an African American guy in front of a bunch of other white people…”
Matthews was trying to make some kind of point about the post-racial nature of the President, and ended up talking about…The Godfather? Somewhere in there, he also used the word “Aspounding.”
Thankfully, the Republican response played him off. Check it out:
UPDATE: Matthews clarifies his remarks: “I think he’s taken us beyond black and white in our politics, wonderfully so, in just a year.” Video of full (and dare we say sincere) clarification below. (GM)
61 comments
Tommy Christopher says: When reached for comment, the President said “Actually, I’m black every night, and not just for an hour.”
Deb Donatti says: Hey, I forgot for an hour that Chris Matthews was White, until he opened his mouth.
Chris Matthews, for some reason, always fails to realize that his skewed interior monologue is not shared by most of America. He says these things as if we’re all thinking them, but…we’re not. At all.
Matthews is always talking “tribalism”. It makes you wonder what character he relates to in “Lord of the Flies”.
JunkJunk says: Where’s keyboard cat when you need him?
Talk about cringe-worthy. Cable news is a wasteland. The cacklefest on CNN right now is almost as bad.
liberalontogeny says: I forgot Chris Matthews was out of his mind for an hour, but then he reminded me
Cecelia says: Sure. His own comment belies itself.
The day Chris Matthews become color blind is the day they plant him and his formerly tingling leg.
Cecelia says: Frankly, if a conservative had made Matthew’s statement he’d be accused of suggesting that Pres. Obama did well because he sounds white.
liberalontogeny says: Matthews:
“I think he’s taken us beyond black and white in our politics, wonderfully so, in just a year.”
But by Matthews own admission, only for an hour. By Matthew’s own admission, Matthews does not include himself when he describes “us” in his clarification.
Is Chris Matthews taking up Tom Hanks’ old SNL role as “Mr. Short Term Memory”? This is the same guy who can’t look at video of a large gathering of white people without expecting someone to be lynched!
I’m convinced that Matthews feels guilty because he is white. He’s a very strange man.
CHANGE THE NUMBERS: http://www.numbersusa.com/change/immigration/numbers/
Fidoohki says: I am beginning to wonder if there is something in the water over at 30 rock that keeps gorwing these mentally unstable broadcasters. Between Ed Schultz views on subjorning the electorial process. Olbermann’s meltdowns, Maddow’s smear attacks and now this, there has to be something doing on… Hmm.. maybe ratings matter afterall :P
m says: I completely agree with everything Matthews said.
Larry Wilson wrote:
I’m convinced that Matthews feels guilty because he is white.
Of course he does. He’s a liberal. Liberalism teaches white people to be ashamed of themselves for what other whites have done throughout history, instilling them with collective guilt that can only be mitigated (they are told) by being patronizing to minorities.
adamac says: Who’s Obama tonight? How about a serial liar. That transcends race and ethnicity too.
veterinary hospital
The Real Royal King says: Cecelia Cecelia says:
January 28, 2010 at 12:42 am
Sure. His own comment belies itself.
The day Chris Matthews become color blind is the day they plant him and his formerly tingling leg.
#
Cecelia Cecelia says:
January 28, 2010 at 12:52 am
Frankly, if a conservative had made Matthew’s statement he’d be accused of suggesting that Pres. Obama did well because he sounds white.
— What a petty whiner you seem. I am sure everyone knew exactly what Matthews meant. As for the tired and tedious “… if a conservative ….” I seem to recall Beck going on FOX & Fiends and offering us the biggest serving of televised racism since “Amos & Andy” retired. No consequences at all. In fact, I seem to recall the one of the other websites you haunt launching an apologia larger than a battleship. —
The Real Royal King says: #
I completely agree with everything Matthews said.
#
LNSmithee LNSmithee says:
January 28, 2010 at 4:48 am
Larry Wilson wrote:
I’m convinced that Matthews feels guilty because he is white.
Of course he does. He’s a liberal. Liberalism teaches white people to be ashamed of themselves for what other whites have done throughout history, instilling them with collective guilt that can only be mitigated (they are told) by being patronizing to minorities.
—On behalf of White people worldwide, we have much for which we ought to apologize. From India to American Indians, from the Congo to the former Confederacy, from Afghanistan to Alabama and so on. —
Cecelia says: The Name This Cat Jacked From a Poster At Olbermann Watch says,
“I am sure everyone knew exactly what Matthews meant. ”
Absolutely, everyone knew what he meant and no one here has claimed that Matthews is racist, they’ve just called him an idiot…
And frankly, an admission that you weren’t aware of someone’s level of melanin for an ENTIRE HOUR…(woooeee!) strongly suggests that it’s likely that such a matter is never out of his consciousness.
Matthews isn’t a racist, he’s a race baiting political automaton when it comes to defending the president.
For the converse reason, so was Glenn Beck that day at F&F.
sarainitaly says: He forgot Obama was black for an hour? Why? Because he lost his “negro accent?”
Or is it because for the first time in Matthews’ adult life he saw *a man* and not simply the color of his skin?
Too bad it was only for an hour.
Perhaps when Matthews evolves, and stop seeing the skin color of a person, he will stop assuming everyone else sees color, too. Maybe, then, he will quit falsely accusing everyone one else of racism.
Cecelia says: “No consequences at all. In fact, I seem to recall the one of the other websites you haunt launching an apologia larger than a battleship. —”
Actually, I haunt several websites, including this one, the Daily Howler, TAPPED, and a few cooking, home decorating, and fashion blogs.
You know me from your haunts at Johnny Dollar’s Place and Olbermann Watch, under a plethora of names.
The name you use now you have jacked from a critic of yours.
Ted says: For a second I thought I was watching Glenn Beck.
LN – Right as usual!!! I am liberal and as white as the driven snow, and dammit I can’t help but feel guilty about it (something my teachers taught – I passed by the way)! My black liberal friends are sure they are supposed to feel guilty about something, they just don’t know what. I have no answers for them since I am in such a deep depression / guilt over my whiteness. Can you help? What, if anything should black liberals feel guilty about? Maybe nothing, I just don’t know. Your deep thoughts are appreciated.
Cecelia says: “What, if anything should black liberals feel guilty about?”
Those poetry- cum -rap lyric sessions at black colleges. Man, that stuff sucks!
But then so should many melanin challenged folks. They supported Rod Mckuen.
The Real Royal King says: Progressives and liberals tend to have great empathy for those suffering and struggling about them. That is in the very nature of a class of people devoted to simultaneous equality and freedom. The Rightists have long made the self-serving and inherently false argument that a society cannot be both equal and free. That lie, that cance,r has metastasized and has left us with a riddled and weak body politic. The symptom for progressives and liberals is guilt and for Rightists ribald self-righteousness. It is that same sickening self-righteousness that makes progressives and liberals recoil at the Beck’s, Hannity’s and Limbaugh’s of the world and Rightists delight in their trite whines. One of the great burdens for progressives and liberals is to attack that guilt in a soul-searching therapy. It is a huge undertaking and one for which progressives and liberals are ill-prepared. But, if we begin the treatment, we have advanced well beyond the Rightists who revel in their pathologies.
Cecelia says: TRRK,
Why have you stolen the name of one of your Olbermann Watch critics?
Ted wrote:
LN – Right as usual!!! I am liberal and as white as the driven snow, and dammit I can’t help but feel guilty about it (something my teachers taught – I passed by the way)! My black liberal friends are sure they are supposed to feel guilty about something, they just don’t know what. I have no answers for them since I am in such a deep depression / guilt over my whiteness. Can you help? What, if anything should black liberals feel guilty about? Maybe nothing, I just don’t know. Your deep thoughts are appreciated.
I’ll ignore the facetiousness of your question and just answer it, since you probably need to hear it anyway.
In America, African-Americans are taught by liberals that they are, in effect, race traitors that have lost their “identity” if they have learned to speak English too well or adapt too quickly and readily to life and employment among people who aren’t black. This is why it was so vital for Barack Obama, as he was just beginning his POTUS campaign in earnest, to lie like a rug in Selma, AL in 2007 about the circumstances of his parents’ courtship. There were initial grumblings that he was not authentically African-American because he not only was half-white, but because his Kenyan father was not a descendant of American slaves.
It’s also why Nobel Prize (for literature) winner Toni Morrison implied in 1998 that the drive to impeach Bill Clinton was racist because Slick Willie was all but black himself:
African-American men seemed to understand it right away. Years ago, in the middle of the Whitewater investigation, one heard the first murmurs: white skin notwithstanding, this is our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime. After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas. And when virtually all the African-American Clinton appointees began, one by one, to disappear, when the President’s body, his privacy, his unpoliced sexuality became the focus of the persecution, when he was metaphorically seized and body-searched, who could gainsay these black men who knew whereof they spoke?
Now, think about this: Morrison wrote in 1998 that Clinton was “Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime.” That was a slap at Gen. Colin Powell, who had been projected as a possible GOP candidate for Commander-in-Chief years before.
Glad I could help. Thanks for asking.
Zakk says: So for the other 23 hours of the day, what is Matthews thinking about? Is he thinking about just how black Obama is?
Cecelia says: “So for the other 23 hours of the day, what is Matthews thinking about? Is he thinking about just how black Obama is?”
His surrogates aside, to his credit, the president has downplayed this constant reference to his race.
I’m sure that Pres. Obama would be prefer to be considered as an individual, instead of as an assortment of certain physical characteristics.
Who wouldn’t.
The Real Royal King says: Paris Hilton.
Zakk says: Cecelia, your right. I’m sure he would. Now if he could only get the Dems to stop bringing it up.
liberalontogeny says: I have worked in poor to very poor school districts for my entire career. I have empathy for those suffering and struggling.
Many of you here are what we term as “haters”. That’s not evidence of empathy. You may also work with the poor, but you couple/demonstrate that with contempt, vile, disrespect and non-empathy
There have been poor, suffering and struggling in the US for decades. (R) Presidents, (R) controlled congress. (D) Presidents, (D) controlled congress.
Still suffering and struggling going on. Less vile, contempt and empathy would go a long way for our youth.
Ted says: LN – OUTSTANDING! So, you are saying that black liberals should feel guilty about speaking proper English. Well thats something anyway.
I enjoy reading Toni Morrison but I’m wondering if I’m doing so simply out of guilt. Any thoughts on that?
By the way, I voted for Obama out of a sense of guilt (big surprise huh?) as I imagine all white liberals did. It’s my default setting and in my DNA and what I was taught at liberal boot camps I attended as a child…or should I say indoctrination camps?
liberalontogeny says: Correction:
Still suffering and struggling going on. Less vile, contempt and more empathy would go a long way for our youth.
Cecelia says: On the contrary, liberalontogeny, LESS empathy and more “vile contempt” would do our youth immense good!
So would a lot of child labor (in their own homes) and a healthy respect and awe for adults.
(and while I’m waxing old on the younger generation, let’s have a few more adults who deserved it.)
Cecelia says: The Real Royal King says:
January 28, 2010 at 10:04 am
Paris Hilton.
————————————————————–
Trust me, she does. No one wants that more so than young women.
liberalontogeny says: Cecelia,
seems you didn’t get my more important point.
Cecelia says: Liberalontogeny, not acknowledging your point is not the same as not understanding it.
liberalontogeny says: Cecelia,
Well you discuss parenting skills and I will adress adult civility. And I will advocate more or at least as much debate by the electorate toward those who govern, and less uncivil debate between the electorate. Especially when there is relatively small movement in standard of living for the poor and struggling. My thinkng is there more “focus” and “achievement” for the electorate if we did it that way.
Cecelia says: I say this as gently and as respectfully I can, L.: perhaps lambasting others for their “vile contempt and lack of empathy” is not the way to initiate a discussion on adult civility.
liberalontogeny says: Cecelia,
Lambasting? Did my post make you defensive or cause a negative reaction with you? I’m speaking about debate all you want, just no need to cross the line. So your position is that when I stated no need for pople to “hate” on each other but debate each other with civility, that’s lambasting? Interesting use of word.
What you disagree? Just today you posted/complained to others:
“In fact you acted so hideously there, that the site had to go to registration software.”
“Why do you behave that way”
“but then egalitarian liberals would inundate me with insults about my ancestry”
“Save your personal insults and accusations of ignorance for him:”
Not lambasting? If you want LESS empathy and more “vile contempt”, then no need for you to apply these type of statements on your posts any longer.
Cecelia says: First of all, L. my comment about liberals making elitist put-down to opponents was not in connection to my making ANY sort of point on civility.
Any point I made about bad internet behavior was in reference to ONE non-gentleman.
Frankly, yes, when start with the supposition that “many of your here are what we term as haters”, you’re lambasting.
Indeed, you’re lambasting…
writer says: Just like his buddy Olbermann, Chris sees everything in terms of race. If there’s so much as a cloud in the sky, it’s the result of racism. He and his ilk believe that all non- whites must be coddled like protected children, and any criticism directed at these children is always unwarranted and must be due to racism. The real racism is the far left’s belief that minorities are unable to play with the grown ups and must be given special treatment.
liberalontogeny says: Cecelia,
Sorry you feel that way. Since you do, that would fall under “Pot meet Kettle” for you.
To scold, reprimand or criticize harshly
Deb Donatti says: His “clarification” is no better than his original gaff.
We are not post racial, and frankly I would not wish to be.
Why?
Because “post” means that we no longer see color (as Matthews claimed not to for a whole hour) or the value and goodness inherent to it, that Blackness is somehow shameful. That is not a solution.
Ignoring color & culture is not the answer, it is more about truly seeing the goodness and value of color, and not “transending” it or wishing it away.
I think Mr. Matthews is like many Whites, we find it more difficult to assign basic goodness to race, so it becomes easier to attempt to set it aside, or look past it instead. WHY can’t we just see the beauty and value of Blackness?
I don’t want my son to EVER be ashamed to be Black! I want the world to say to my son, WOW, look at that wonderful, talented, intellegent, beautiful BLACK man. I am sure President Obama’s mother felt the same. When we have to look past our President’s race in order to find his “goodness” something is still very wrong with our society.
JJFAHL says: Every time I see Chris Matthews open his mouth I forget that he’s supposed to be a reporter.
David Shuster is a creepy liberal ideologue who has the most irritating vocal inflections on TV. He sings his words up and down for phony dramatic emphasis like he’s auditioning for High School Musical III. He also has been MSNBC’s favorite investigator for monumental stories like ex-Rep. Sen. George Allen casually calling someone “macaca.” That story headlined the Chris Matthews Show for about 3 weeks. Shuster famously showcased his total pro-Obama bias when, on air, he accused Hillary of “pimping out” her daughter Chelsea during the Democratic primary campaign. For that gaffe, MSNBC kept Shuster off-air for about a week, but that bozo should be working for some local cable show in Boise.
Ted says: writer – If you believe that’s the “real racism” you are clueless and naive in the extreme.
In the article in Yahoo news about Chris Mathews’ statement: “I forgot he was black tonight for an hour…” refering to President Obama, came this critic’s statment.
(Sophia Nelson, a black attorney, former lobbyist and founder of PoliticalIntersection.com, which focuses on politics, race and gender, said she has been offended by people calling her articulate and intelligent: “That’s saying that people who look like me normally aren’t those things.” )
I would really like to give this person a slap in the back of the head. People who look like you usually aren’t those thing… DUH!! I personally feel she needs to be real. Stop taking up for a race of people that talks stupid half of the time. I don’t care if it is your own race. Grow a pair! Call it dialect or whatever, it’s nothing but a facade. It’s something to make them look cool, and it does nothing but degrade them. My best friends in high school were black. I have nothing against the race of a person what-so-ever. I am not politically correct. I’m a pot calling the kettle black. Sophia, I am not directing this personally to you, but you need to realize something. If people are saying that, it’s because people are thinking that. It’s a connotation that black people have, and it creates a complex in black people, that make the insecure ones take immediate offense. I say, Get over yourself. Although I do not stand for Obama’s politics, I will give him this: He never let his race be an obstacle to get him where he wanted to go. And now he’s at the top.
If you don’t want this perception, then do something about it. Don’t defend it! You might as well spit in the wind!! Help it!
Cecelia says: I don’t want my son to EVER be ashamed to be Black! I want the world to say to my son, WOW, look at that wonderful, talented, intellegent, beautiful BLACK man. I am sure President Obama’s mother felt the same. When we have to look past our President’s race in order to find his “goodness” something is still very wrong with our society.
———————————————————————————————————–
No, it’s logical to look past race because “goodness” is not found there. Goodness is found in the content of our character.
No one should be ashamed to be any race that they happen to be, yet I’m white and were I to start typing out an ode to white pride, you can image the response I’d receive. Anyone else, doing the same thing, would get the same response from me, as well.
I may admire Chinese art and culture, but never to the extent that I assign some component to it that is linked to skin color or eye shape and for that reason is something “other” from me or from your son.
As fellow earth dwellers…he and I share in the accomplishments of Confucius, the Greeks, the pharaohs.
Unfortunately, we have historic examples of what can happen when we assign an importance to race that is more rightly assigned to internals. These internals may have been shaped by racial experience, but they are as individual as the person who harbors them.
“I forgot he was black” (Chris Matthews on Obama’s union address) I am really sick of the controversy. The second someone says that race is finally a removed barrier in our country, backlash comes in the form of : “As a black American I want people to remember who I am” (Dr. Imani Perry) “It’s important for us to remember that everyone has a race” (Blair L.M. Kelley) – I feel it’s hard to support equality when so many embrace the chip on their shoulder. Perry continues: “The ideal is to be able to see and acknowledge everything that person is, including the history that he or she comes from” Using that logic, should we start referring to racial statistic in order to form our opinions? Of course not. And I get what they’re saying, I just think it’s ridiculous. Remove your chip.
pyrope says: And none of that “negro dialect” either, eh Chris?
Deb Donatti says: Joe B Cooper,
you forgot the rest of the Blair L.M. Kelly quote…
”When you say we’re going to transcend race, are white people called on to transcend their whiteness?”
”When (black people) transcend it, what do we become? Do we become white?” she asked. ”Why would we have to stop being our race in order to solve a problem?”
See how things make more sense when you leave them in their original context?
And to Cecelia,
My son cannot stop being Black. Blackness is as much a part of him, and his experience in the world as anything is. I think it is time for us to see the positive value and beauty in all parts of our humanity, including race. To be valuable and beautiful one does not need to be white, or to transend their color.
Deb, way to miss the point.
I fully understand the quotes, and again I say remove that chip from your shoulder. Should I say “Obama seemed very black in his speech”? And if you said “Joe Cooper sounds very white”, you think I wouldn’t be offended?
What color do you “think” I am?
My point is it doesn’t matter. It’s a good thing to forget race and listen to someone as a person.
Cecelia says: I never said that your son needs to be white to be valuable and beautiful.
In fact, if your son was white, he (and you) would be considered racist white supremacists for making any statement denoting white pride.
And yes, true beauty will always transcend every physical characteristic we may possess.
Deb Donatti says: Yes, and I am saying that a part of a person is their race.
There is no chip here, just a real desire to see others expand their thinking.
I would say that you will be hard pressed to find a Black who would rather have their color ignored, than they would to have it just viewed as positive and valuable.
I would say wonderful if people said Obama gave a great speech and he seemed very Black, positive-positive.
Yup, I would say you are white, mainly because I am as well, and I know how long it took me to understand something that I had the luxury all my life (because of white priviledge) to ignore.
Put down you knap sack of priviledge.
Race matters, lets see that it matters for all the right reasons.
And for the record:
Yes, black people need to transcend.
Yes, white people need to transcend.
Every race needs to stop being a color in order to solve our problems.
Don’t confuse transcend with transmute.
When you transcend race, you rise above the meaning of race, you don’t become anything different. Blair L.M. Kelly should have put some thoughts into her comments.
“Race matters, lets see that it matters for all the right reasons.”
This is the ugly face of racism. If race matters, then prejudices are validated.
I am no longer interested in continuing this debate with you. I believe your heart is in the right place but your brain is no where to be found.
Deb Donatti says: No Cecelia,
white supremacy values whitness at the EXPENSE of others (Blacks).
You can value your white culture, and also respect and value someone who is of a different race, IF you understand how things you have been priviledged to in this society have often been at the expense of others.
I used to think like you do, but my son has given me the blessing to see another perspective.
Let me ask you, when was the last time someone spat in disgust at your 2 mon. old baby, or walked out of a resturant because they found your sleeping toddler offensive to look at? And I say lets look at color in a positive context here, and you get offended by that?
Hey those experiences sure have opened my eyes.
Deb Donatti says: LOL, Thanks but brain is present and accounted for.
Deb, it’s clear that you’re trying to make yourself a martyr, but having a mixed-race child does not make you an expert. And by the way, did your subtly racist mind cover the fact that your son also cannot stop being white?
You clearly do NOT see both sides of the coin, so please stop trying to be the spokesperson for both races.
It’s offensive that you would refer to anyone by their race, be it a beautiful black son, or a well-spoken black man.
You’re going to act as if you wouldn’t be offended by Time magazine having their “Times 2010 White Person of the Year”?
Be proud of your son for being a wonderful man. Give credit to a well-spoken man. Leave the race out of it.
You are not special for being black.
You are not special for being white.
Nobody is special until they work very hard in their lives to prove otherwise.
Cecelia says: Deb,
I’ve no doubt that you have a superlative son.
I don’t think anyone here could doubt that.
We have only to look at and to read from his mother.
writer says: Hey Ted. Racism means you see your own race as superior to others and treat other races differently from your own. So when people on the far left say that disagreements with Obama are mainly due to racism, aren’t they setting him aside as something special? Believe it or not, Ted, sometimes black people can actually be wrong about things. Just like whites or any other race. The left certainly had no trouble calling Bush every name in the book, yet anyone disagreeing with Obama gets the racism charge hurled at them. (The taunts at Michael Steele, Michelle Malkin, and others don’t seem to count. Why is that, Ted? Why no outrage at your boy Olbermann?
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