Comedy Central Covers The White State Of The Union

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.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.