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Comedy Central Covers The White State Of The Union

by Tommy Christopher | 8:02 am, February 1st, 2010

» 15 comments

After Keith Olbermann‘s post-SOTU j’accuse of a bevy of conservative talking heads, in which he equated their cries of “arrogance” with the racially inflammatory “uppity,” many thought Keith was overreaching at best.

Be that as it may, both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report covered a case of the pot calling the kettle “arrogant,” as they reported on the unprecedented bit of reverse-place-putting that was the Republicans’ Mini-me SOTU. It’s not that Obama is “uppity,” it’s that the Republicans have been too “downity.”

Unfortunately, I missed the Republican response to the President’s State of the Union address because I had to write up Chris Matthews’ hour-long case of blacknesia, and had to travel to DC for two days. I finally caught up, via DVR, when I got home last night, and I was amazed. Here’s Jon Stewart‘s take on the WSOTU:

The GOP’s embarrassing spectacle provided more than enough material for Stephen Colbert to cover the same ground without being redundant:

I haven’t seen much else on this, which is a shame. There’s an all-pervasive attitude these days that if you mention racism in the absence of the n-word and/or a lynching, you’re a “race-baiter.” Oh, and suddenly, accusing someone of racism seems to be worse than actually being a racist. There’s got to be a way to discuss this like adults.

I’m going to give it a try.

Right off the bat, a reasonable adult would have to conclude that the object of the GOP response was to put President Obama in his place, or if you like, to put themselves in what they see as their own rightful place.

As Stewart and Colbert point out, this type of display is completely unprecedented. The optics are clearly meant to mirror the actual SOTU, and the choice of Bob McDonnell, whose victory in Virginia has been heralded by GOPers as a repudiation of Obama, was clearly meant to send a message: The GOP shall rise again!

Now, a different question is whether they were trying to put Obama in his place because he’s black, or for some other reason. In fairness to the Republicans, unless one of them comes out and says it, there’s no way to know for sure. What is knowable is whether or not it’s even a fair question.

As Colbert points out, the Republicans chose, as the site of their speech, the same chamber from which Confederate President Jefferson Davis delivered his 2nd inaugural address. Still, Barack Obama did deliver a speech at a dinner honoring the birth of confederate General Robert E. Lee last year, so maybe they get a pass on that. Really, is there a place anywhere in the South that doesn’t relate to the Confederacy somehow?

Both Colbert and Stewart point out that nobody ever did this to any of the white presidents. That logic can be used on any number of incidents, though. Nobody ever openly heckled the white presidents at a joint session of Congress, for example. Does that mean it was because Obama is black? Not necessarily, but is it a fair question?

Is it a fair question when the party putting on the pageant in question has a history of using black people as boogiemen or scapegoats for white unemployment, whose heroes fought tooth and nail against civil rights legislation, who lament the passing of the era of segregation?

Yes, it is a fair question.

This could also be a manifestation of the white male persecution complex. Everybody but us is special, they get their own “History Months,” hate crime laws, National Associations for their Advancement, maternity leaves. We’re the only people you can still make fun of in polite company. Now, we can’t even be President? I’m sure there are a lot of people gleefully thinking “Get over it!” right now.

It’s also fair to assume that race played no part in this, that the Republicans would have put on the same embarrassingly petty spectacle for President Hillary Clinton, if things had gone differently, or outgoing President John Edwards. There were eight years worth of unprecedented partisan bitterness that preceded Obama’s election.

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I’m sure it never occurred to most Republicans that this move would appear so racially tin-eared. I’m also not prepared to listen to outrage at the mere suggestion. There has got to be a way to discuss this calmly, like adults.

Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Jon Stewart, keith olbermann, SOTU, State of the Union, stephen colbert, strom thurmond, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, Tommy Christopher, Trent Lott

Fidoohki

Umm when it is phrased like that? Not a chance in hell.
timzank

When will you morons finally wake up and realize, it’s not his blackness that spurs repudiation and anger, it’s his ARROGANCE.

sheesh….
TeaPartyAmerican

Exactly. More like ‘his my way or the highway.’ I wouldn’t care if is neon green, just don’t run our Country into the ground! Obama
writer

If we’re all the same under the skin, isn’t it kind of odd to think that a black person couldn’t be arrogant? Or would be unable to exhibit any other traits or emotions displayed in other races, for that matter? If a white president can be called every name under the sun (see Hollywood vs. George Bush) then why shouldn’t a black president expect the same (equal) treatment?
sarainitaly

i think it’s quite odd that Tommy and others are so insulting towards McDonnell’s staff, and find it so hard to believe that minorities can be succesful and important, and not merely *props*. Do you think so little of these people, that they are so stupid and useless that they are merely useful idiots?

•Staff Sergeant Robert Tenpenny, who served with McDonnell’s daughter Jeannie in Iraq
•Lisa Hick-Thomas, Virginia’s Secretary of Administration
•Jim Cheng, Secretary of Commerce and Trade
•Janet Polarek, Secretary of the Commonwealth

“Oh, and suddenly, accusing someone of racism seems to be worse than actually being a racist.” You came to that conclusion, how exactly?

All you are doing is proving that you consider Obama less than equal. You constantly point out his race, deem him not equal to past presidents, and YOU always see his skin color. You think this is all about race because you just can’t get past his race.
sarainitaly

In preparing for the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, GOP strategists have taken steps aimed at avoiding problems that marred Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s well-written but badly staged remarks last year.

This year, Republicans have chosen Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose easygoing confidence should help him stand up reasonably well in comparison with President Barack Obama.

McDonnell also will be speaking from the floor of the Virginia state House, an impressive public venue. Jindal’s makeshift stage last year was the foyer of the Louisiana governor’s mansion. And McDonnell also will have supporters around him as he talks, unlike Jindal, who was all alone.

McDonnell was asked to deliver the Republican response “because of his ability to make a case for conservative principles that’s appealing to independents and centrists,” says a person close to the governor, citing his “thoughtful perspective and inclusive language.”
SWWT

I’m getting seriously tired of old people talking about race.
timzank

I’m getting seriously tired of every-fu&king-body talking about race. My entire country is being flushed down the toilet while the “4th Estate” swoons, looks the other way, and all but manufactures racial overtones & undertones of any commentary or criticism of their anointed post-racial messiah.
Cecelia

Remember in Jindal’s speech the onus was that he was delivering it from a “plantation-like” setting.

How do you discuss anything so utterly subjective and circular as this? If you live in the south you understand that all those places have been redeemed in a sense. White voters and black voters have elected white and black leaders who have walked the halls together. Everyday!

Yet even to bring that up that point meets with references of past opposition memes.

What is there to discuss? It’s like viewing everything from the perspective of looking into a tinted lens, everything molecule takes on that hue. What is the world then but that hue!

It’s beyond opportunistic. And this endless crap has made the president more device than man.

It’s beyond a strategy. It’s more similar to being tattooed or made to wear some scarlet “R” for both racist and republican.

You don’t mean to discuss or converse with this, Tommy, anymore than Jon Stewart is sincerely seeking clarification.

This isn’t even a talking point. It’s beyond a cheapshot. What it is, the worst sort of partisan bomb.
rmbltmbl

Well, these are comedy shows.. and I had a few chuckles, if they just made fun of the left making out all people opposed to PBO extreme policies as racist, it would have been acceptable. They decided to agree with the left instead.
Tommy Christopher

It’s telling that, rather than have an honest discussion, some of you have chosen to make points that I made in my article, but pretend I didn’t make them, and pretend I said things that I didn’t say. There has to be a way to discuss this like adults, but this ain’t it.
Cecelia

Oh come on, Tommy! An “honest” discussion about the fodder of a comedy routine where you not only act as though every Stewart /Cobert polemic is “worth” entertaining, but worthy of a sober worthwhile discussion? A “discussion” as to whether or not the Republicans are “tin-eared”– a New Age crime, thusly charged when the accuser wants to pretend that he’s the voice of restraint by not overtly charging racism.

Okay, let’s start with the terms. So now we know that the statehouse in a state that went for Pres. Obama would have been off-limits by racially sensitive liberals, due to 150 year old history feverishly googled by some Comedy Central writers.

We now must entertain the notion that perhaps standing in front of podium while trying one’s best to look presidential IS an immense racial faux pas by politicians looking to beat the socks off the Chief Executive in 010. And goodness knows we know that standing by a staircase in Louisiana is racist code for mint juliep, Swannee, and Gray Coats…

Another deep subject to ponder– regardless of the fact that real live saintly and intellectual media personages have called the president too remote, too professorial, too unemotional, too lecturing…. direct English such as “arrogant” is racially pejorative. How next shall we put that upstart darkie in his place, boys?… oh yeah…. we’ll call him removed and patrician”….

But what else is in your serious discussion of things that we should mentally weigh and scratch our heads over….whether or not you think every registered Republican has a wardrobe of sheets and whistles Dixie in their sleep? Why you found it necessary to defend yourself against the charge of race-baiting by suggesting that term is just a devise to deflect from racism?

You’re too deep and adult for us, Tommy. This is one discussion that you must wage with yourself. Not that either of you then would change your ever-so-obvious determined little mind.
blueblogger

Many of you people see Obama as arrogant. I see him as self confident. A quality I respect in a person and am glad to have after our last president.
Cecelia

I don’t see him as arrogant either, but I don’t see finding him that way as potentially racist.

There’s virtually no criticism you could level at the man without a case being made that you were using code speak and being racially insensitive, at best.

In order to avoid that you have to praise him with faint damnation– exp– the way interview experts say one should respond to the question ‘what’s your biggest flaw’….’well, I’m a perfectionist, maam’… so then the president is “too professorial”… he’s “too intellectual”…”too nuanced”.

Race baiters know where the mines are buried, but chiefly they know who to blow up.
sarainitaly

Tommy Christopher says:
February 1, 2010 at 10:21 am

It really sucks when people misinterpret/misrepresent/mislead others on your views, and make false, and damaging accusations, doesn’t it?

“Oh, and suddenly, accusing someone of racism seems to be worse than actually being a racist. There’s got to be a way to discuss this like adults.”

Making inaccurate statements like this, and falsely accusing people of racism will never lead to an adult discussion.