Did You Almost Forget Obama Was Black?

MSNBC analyst Chris Matthews, apparently in celebration of the fact that he believes we now have a "post-racial America," felt the need to congratulate President Barack Obama on his State of the Union Address by proudly claiming that he "forgot Obama was black for an hour."

I am not sure where Chris Matthews was coming from with these comments. To some extent, his remarks were shocking, and I wasn't exactly sure why they shocked me until I'd had a chance to sleep on it. During my rest, I realized that Chris Matthews' words were hurtful and irritating because they represent the kind of paternalistic racism that might come from liberals in an historically racist society. With his words, Matthews was practically applauding Obama for rising above his blackness, as if merely mentioning the words, "I am a black man," would have completely ruined Obama's brilliant speech. No one asked Matthews what he thought about the fact that the president was black, so Matthews going out of his way to mention Obama's blackness is a reminder that Matthews himself was focused on the fact that he was listening to a black man.

It's odd and interesting that in a so-called "post-racial society," the way to applaud the fact that you didn't notice something is to mention the very thing that you're claiming to not have noticed. If Matthews had been truly unaware that he was listening to a black man, he would have spent his time commenting on Obama's policies rather than the color of his skin.

Am I the only one that remembers the rebuke to those who commented on Obama being articulate is racist? Do you remember when Biden said of Candidate Obama:

I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."

This brought scrutiny of "articulate" being a racist comment.

Biden then had to issue a statement saying: "I deeply regret any offense my remark in the New York Observer might have caused anyone. That was not my intent and I expressed that to Sen. Obama."

It is now Chris Matthews who is eating a little crow as he attempts to clarify his comments here:

"I grew up in a country that was driven apart by race right until the '60s. You couldn't have a black member of the U.S. Cabinet. There were no black cabinet members in the Kennedy administration. It has been such a big part of our life.... To see a president of the United States who is African Amercan, I was thinking tonight, this isn't even an issue tonight. How far we've come in just a year.... President Obama has done something wonderful. I thing he's taken us beyond black and white in our politics...and I'm loving it."

No matter what you say, no matter what you do, get used to it, you are racist.