The Magical Barack Obama

Yet another inglorious chapter in Barack Obama's Presidential adventure has unfolded before us. Widely unheralded columnist David Ehrenstein, a writer more known for writing critique of the arts (cinematic and otherwise) than anything else, wrote an op-ed piece for the LA Times lambasting Sen. Barack Obama for being a “Magical Negro” (I kid you not). The term “Magical Negro” is apparently used within the circle of film critics to describe hollow, empty characters of the “token black person” variety. Not all film critics care for the term, and personally I find its use to be mildly offensive in the critique of film, even when used by African-American writers such as Ehrenstein (no, he's not Jewish). It should be obvious to most that Ehrenstein used the term in his op-ed to draw attention to an otherwise-bland column. This isn’t the first time that a left-leaning commentator has taken Obama to task for not being a “real African-American”, but it is one of the pettiest and nastiest hit pieces out there.

Ehrenstein’s forgettable work would have remained largely-unnoticed (thanks to the LA Times’ imploding reader base, among other things) were it not for the additional publicity generated by an apparently-outraged Rush Limbaugh. Rush, taking it upon himself to expose the racism inherent to the idea that a liberal media outlet can utilize blatantly racist epithets unavailable to any moderate or conservative commentator, has decided to repeat the term “Magic Negro” as often as possible on the air when describing Barack Obama. Normally, Limbaugh would last all of ten seconds on the air after repeatedly uttering the word “Negro” for any reason; thanks to the LA Times and David Ehrenstein, Limbaugh has an excuse to repeat it ad nauseam like an obnoxious school child. He has declared openly that he wants to see how many people attribute the term to him without stopping to read Ehrenstein’s column or to recognize that LA Times’ ultimate responsibility for labeling Obama a “Magic Negro”. To assist him in his task, Limbaugh has enlisted the talents of Paul Shanklin who produced a parody of Ehrenstein’s column featuring a fake Al Sharpton singing “Barack the Magic Negro” to the tune of Peter, Paul, & Mary’s “Puff the Magic Dragon”. This tactic is pretty low-brow even for the ever-impish Limbaugh who delights in tweaking his opposition with childish antics.

Despite the fact that Ehrenstein’s op-ed piece was little more than a piece of editorial fecal matter and that Limbaugh’s fixation upon the column was the intellectual equivalent of grabbing hold of Ehrenstein’s mental defecation and parading it around in front of his elementary school classmates, those reacting to this absurd fiasco seem to be taking it quite seriously. Limbaugh’s calculations were nearly perfect as his most ardent critics could not help but come to Ehrenstein’s defense, proclaiming his use of “Magic Negro” to be legitimate due to the term’s frequent use by film critics (and Ehrenstein is himself a film critic). They then assailed Limbaugh with their usual brainless diatribes labeling him an oxycontin-abusing, overweight, immature political shock-jock. In other words, they played directly into Limbaugh’s hands after deliberately stepping into his trap even as he laid it at their feet and essentially dared them to do so. No matter how immature Limbaugh may be for parroting Ehrenstein like an obnoxious grade school huckster, his critics have shown themselves to be petty, small-minded twits having yet again ceded moral high-ground to a man who has baited them with little more than school-yard taunts. Interestingly enough, many of Limbaugh’s loyal listeners (whom his critics deride as slobbering idiots that love “racist” parodies like “Barack the Magic Negro”) have become so sick and tired of hearing a racial epithet repeated on the air that they have called Rush on his program and requested he cease repeating the slur regardless of its ultimate purpose. Limbaugh’s audience deserves credit for showing more common sense than anyone else.

It is clear that we can dismiss Ehrenstein’s brainless diatribe as yet another attempt by a self-styled expert in African-American identify to deride Barack Obama as being something other than African-American. While I am no Obama supporter, and while I find that his credentials to be insufficient to justify his nomination as the Democratic candidate for President in 2008, there is no reason to question the legitimacy of his public racial profile regardless of how many guilty white liberals support him. It is appalling that Obama’s race has been called into question yet again by those who should be defending the right of all people, regardless of racial background, to pursue public office. It is also clear that the LA Times couldn’t run a decent editorial if its life depended on it (and it does).