Did Jonathan Chait just say that criticizing Obama’s “you didn’t build that” speech comes from racism?
Better question: how can I possibly be surprised?
Chait embed’s the pro-Romney commercial that hits the president on that speech, just so you can see the blatant racism for yourself:
The key thing is that Obama is angry, and he’s talking not in his normal voice but in a “black dialect.” This strikes at the core of Obama’s entire political identity: a soft-spoken, reasonable African-American with a Kansas accent. From the moment he stepped onto the national stage, Obama’s deepest political fear was being seen as a “traditional” black politician, one who was demanding redistribution from white America on behalf of his fellow African-Americans.
First of all: that was a “black dialect?” Exactly how white is Jonathan Chait?
And secondly: do the president’s words ever matter? Or only his father’s race?
I think we all know the answer to that one, from Chait’s perspective.
And third: why does Chait think that a “traditional” black politician is one who demands “redistribution from white America on behalf of his fellow African-Americans?” Isn’t that kinda lumping all “black politicians” into the same mold?
And isn’t that kinda racist?
Or is Chait actually saying that, in order to win a national-level office, a black politician has to be more like…oh, I dunno…Allen West?
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