Hopefully remembered that Obama is black, like, all the time.
My hair is insane.
During MSNBC’s coverage of Obama’s State of the Union address, Chris Matthews said that he forgot Obama was black for an hour.
I’m not entirely sure what was going through Matthews’ mind-head when he made the statement, but I highly doubt he meant the comment to sound as awkward as it did.
I’m sure there will be cries of “racism” resounding throughout the blogosphere. To that, I say “pish posh.” The context of Matthews’ remarks indicates that they were an attempt–albeit blundered–to cast Obama as post-racial, and his coverage was, generally, laudatory. Even so, it was a pretty bizarre statement to blurt out:
I was trying to think about who he was tonight. It’s interesting: he is post-racial, by all appearances. I forgot he was black tonight for an hour. You know, he’s gone a long way to become a leader of this country, and past so much history, in just a year or two. I mean, it’s something we don’t even think about. I was watching, I said, wait a minute, he’s an African American guy in front of a bunch of other white people. And here he is president of the United States and we’ve completely forgotten that tonight — completely forgotten it. I think it was in the scope of his discussion. It was so broad-ranging, so in tune with so many problems, of aspects, and aspects of American life that you don’t think in terms of the old tribalism, the old ethnicity. It was astounding in that regard. A very subtle fact. It’s so hard to talk about. Maybe I shouldn’t talk about it, but I am. I thought it was profound that way.
Confession: I’m starting to like Chris Matthews. Maybe it’s because he’s sandwiched between Rachel Maddow and the lefty bloviator himself, Keith Olbermann. Maybe it’s the fact that he always has this sort of devil-may-care grin on his face as of late. Maybe I’m confused by his hair. Maybe I’m still thinking about how hilariously loopy he was during the coverage of the DNC last summer. Or maybe it’s the drink.
Whatever the reason, homeboy is growing on me.
Video after the jump.
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