There are days that I want to turn in my Republican voter registration card. Any thinking person with half a gram of decency understands that Chip Saltsman’s parody entitled “Barack the Magic Negro” is bad form, however, there is another problem with the song… it does not make any sense politically.
Wasn’t it just last month that we Republicans got our heads handed to us? It wasn’t Negroes (magic or otherwise) that gave us our walking papers. An overwhelming majority of non-blacks, whites and Hispanics, voted for a change in political leadership in both national branches because Republicans focused on fear instead of putting together a winning message.
Most telling are the responses of the leading candidates for the RNC chair position. Ken Blackwell and Saltsman are clearly delusional and their responses of blaming the liberal media for daring to point out Saltsman’s lack of manners is appalling and ridiculous. Current RNC Chair Robert Duncan’s statement that he “shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate” is a good start at a proper response but I know plenty of Republicans who have said similar statements about Obama in private. To say that no one would think this language would be appropriate is seeing the Republican world with rose-colored glasses; this is definitely not the type of leader we need today as we rebuild the mess that we have made.
Closest to the mark are Michigan state chair Saul Anuzis and former MD Lt. Governor Michael Steele who have called Saltsman out on his parody while trying to focus attention onto policy differences between the Republican Party and the incoming Obama Administration. Steele said we need to be “a lot smarter about such things and more appreciative that our actions always speak louder than our words. Our actions and our words are oftentimes used to define who we are as Republicans.”
Chip definitely has a chip on his shoulder. I assume that there is a good number of Republican faithful that are still ticked off about the thumping they received. Our loss was not caused by “a magic Negro”; rather it was our propensity of saying stupid things at the most inopportune times that has gotten us to this point of electoral crisis. In January, I implore the RNC members to elect a leader that has less of a boulder on his shoulder.
Faculty, Department of Political Science, Towson University. Graduate from Liberty University Seminary.