Will the G.O.P Ever Learn?

I first heard about "Barack the Magic Negro" last year when Rush Limbaugh played it on his radio show.

Conservative satirist Paul Shanklin wrote the song, using an Al Sharpton impersonator, to conduct a parody of Peter, Paul and Mary's "Puff, the Magic Dragon" that is beyond the pale of anything created by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

There wasn't much outcry then, why the fuss now? Is it because when it first ran President-elect Obama was a mere U.S. Senator, and now that he is about to become POTUS it's different?

But it has become a hot news item in a relatively slow news cycle when it was discovered that Republican National chair candidate Chip Saltsman had been sending out copies of a "comedy" CD to fellow party officials with "Barack the Magic Negro" included as a holiday gift.

To be honest, when I initially heard it, I laughed. Not out of some demented appreciation for its comedic value, but because of the simple nature of its pathetic absurdity.

True to form, Republicans, in their best eight year-old hand caught in the cookie jar impersonation cried, "WHAAAT?" They claimed that their innocent satire was the result of David Ehrenstein, who wrote a piece for the Los Angeles Times attempting to dissect the so-called 'Magic Negro' myth.

In the context of Eherstein's usage, the 'Magic Negro' is a black person who assuages white guilt about race and the role that slavery and racial segregation played in the ongoing saga of the American experiment. This individual is most likely male, benign, safe, and passive -- a noncontroversial figure.

The erroneous manner in which Martin Luther King, Jr. is widely portrayed and misquoted out of context is a prime example of the 'Magic Negro Myth' in action.
Those who justify such parody claim that those who object are guilty of a double standard. "If Bush can be lampooned why not Obama?" is how the thinking goes.

But if we cannot have a serious discussion about America's original sin, we are hardly in a position to include it into the lexicon of political satire simply because the next commander-in-chief is black.

There is no humor in male slaves being considered 3/5 of a man for political purposes, the reasons that led to a Civil War, Emmitt Till, Bull Connor's police dogs and fire hoses, the Southern Strategy, or Jesse Helms' infamous "Hands" commercial.

All represented on this dubious list can track their legacy to America's failure to confront race at the country's inception, which makes the rise of Barack Obama all the more incredible.

But flirting with racism either overtly or covertly has also been an unfortunate component of the Republican Party for the past 40 years. What we are witnessing is the remnants of the Cro-Magnon wing of the G.O.P.

How can those who self-identify as "Black Republicans" continue to languish in silence, as a portion of their party remains stuck in the quagmire of race baiting, while the country seems poised to move on? Why can't they call out the obvious absurdity of "Barack the Magic Negro?"

The fact that such debase humor was considered an appropriate holiday gift is further confirmation of a political party in decline, vapid of ideas, and clueless as to why it lost handily in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

This will hardly be a topic of conversation after the New Year. Not with Iraq and Afghanistan, increased tension in the Middle East, and an economy that will require the President-elect's immediate attention.

But in the dysfunctional two-party political system that currently exist it is not helpful to the country to have one party continuing down the tragic path that led to its decline--it makes Democrats right be default.

As the Republican Party goes through at least a season exiled to the political minority some of the sober minds within might want to ask does "Barack the Magic Negro" help or hurt the party brand with those who left in droves this year?

Comments

[ziggystardust]

I listened to that song. I thought it was more of a parody of Sharpton than it was on Obama. Of course, the whole thing arose out of that chorus of politicians and pundits who didn't think Obama was "black enough" for whatever reason.

[truestarr]

What an articulate commentary. I will presume that it will be ignored by the Good Ol' boys Party, as the people who are currently calling the shots seem to have contempt for intelligence.

[Senzasord]

The Republican party needs to be shrunk down to the size where it can be drowned in a urinal.
People who don't believe in government must never be allowed to govern.
No Republican left standing!

[VJohn]

You can't really blame the Republicans. Their political successes for the past forty years was built on playing on the fears and resentments of Southern whites. After all this time, their basically stuck on auto-pilot and now have to appease their bigoted supporters in order to remain a viable national Party. How the conservative bigots and minorities will be able to co-exist in the same "Big Tent" is beyond me.

I'd also like to add, I just checked out a Right-wing site to see how conservatives voters are responding to this and not surprisingly their resorting to that tired narrative of "Democrats take blacks for granted...­" and "Dr. Martin Luther King was a Republican­..." and so on.

[democracy7]

Its symptomatic of the republican party. Still lost in the fifties and clueless about how to go forward.

[kaukerc]

The question I want to ask is WHY did Chip Saltsman think such an offensive slur of a song would make an appropriate gift? I still can't wrap my mind around that.

[darker]

The GOP will never learn as long as they continue allowing
FRAT-BRAT ATTITUDE in their leadership in their failed
attempt to "appeal" to young people and irresponsible, immature
macho-worshippers.

Right now, the GOP is WRONG.
Republicans proved they SUCCEED AT FAILURE.