Three prominent Democrats have been in the news recently for things they’ve said about President Barack Obama. Two of them, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and former President Bill Clinton, are quoted in a book that hasn’t even been released to the public yet, Game Change. This book allegedly claims that Reid liked Obama’s chances of becoming President because the then Illinois Senator was a “light-skinned” African American. Reid added that Obama had “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” Clinton was trying to persuade Ted Kennedy to support Hillary Clinton in her run for the White House when the ex-President said, “A few years ago, this guy [Obama] would have been getting us coffee.” The third prominent Democrat is Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and voted out as Illinois’ governor. Blagojevich said in a recent magazine interview that he was “blacker than Barack Obama” because Blagojevich grew up poor and used to shine shoes.
What do we make of all of this? I’ve read that the President has forgiven Reid, and the Democratic establishment seems pretty willing to give him a pass. I guess some people are making a distinction between comments that are racial and comments that are racist. But what about the other two guys? Is Clinton a racist? One wouldn’t think so, based on his track record. Would Clinton say something motivated by cynicism and dishonesty in order to get what he wanted? Well, you could make that argument, based on his track record. In the case of Blagojevich, he now says his remarks were “stupid.” At least now he and I finally feel the same way about something.
As we move on from all of this, though, I have one final question: If you took out the names above and instead inserted Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck, how would the mainstream media be presenting this?