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My Racist Wife

By wt

One reason I think accusations of playing the race card are so rampant is because it's an easy card to play. Easy because it trumps all else, and easy because it's so hard to disprove.

Here's a good example of where the race card very likely ISN'T being played --- by Maria Echeveste, a paid Clinton consultant who is married to Dean Christopher Edley at Boalt, an Obama supporter.

The couple has relived some of the campaign?s most rancorous moments, such as when Ms. Echaveste, echoing Bill Clinton, told her husband that Mr. Obama was ?naïve.?

The word conjured up racial stereotypes for Mr. Edley, who is black, and has known Mr. Obama since he taught him in law school. ?There?s the childlike Negro,? he explained. ?There is the superficial but glib minstrel.?

Ms. Echaveste, who is Hispanic, now understands why her husband exploded in response. ?Regardless of being dean of a law school? ? at the University of California, Berkeley, where both teach ? ?he?s still in a box called being a black man,? she said.

Still, she said, ?I ought to be able to make that point and not trigger these reactions.?

You think? You want to call someone naive without being accused of thinking they're a childlike negro or a superficial and glib minstrel? I think that might be fair.

So if your wife says something that could potentially line up with an image of African-Americans from a century ago, assume that it's not a racist attack, but one made in good faith because Obama's only been a Senator for THREE YEARS.

Now, maybe that doesn't matter. Maybe he'll make a good president. But the response to a legitimate talking point from Clinton's people isn't "Race Card."

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).