By now you have probably seen the photo of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and President Obama. If not, we have it right there for you to see. The argument and/or finger pointing stemmed from the way Jan Brewer retold an incident between she and President Obama in her book. She described it in a way that painted the President to be cold and aloof, after initially saying something complete different.
Governor Brewer later would say that she felt a little intimidated by the President. Governor Brewer said that the President was being "professorial" and "condescending". If you look at the picture you can get that vibe from it. But, if the picture had been reported to the tune of "President Obama and Governor Brewer spar over the Phoenix Suns vs. Chicago Bulls game" you would get that vibe as well. However, President Obama has said that the row was no big deal. Unfortunately, the way he said it comes off "condescending" and patronizing. "I think it's always good publicity for a Republican if they're in an argument with me", President Obama said, adding, "But this was really not a big deal". The President has charm and charisma to spare. But, when he uses them from time to time it can come off condescending. That is not to place all of the blame on his shoulders, Governors need to have a bit of decorum in public and wagging your finger in front of someone else, let alone the president breaks that mannerly code. But, we shall place more blame on the buzz being stirred by the press over the incident with the introduction of racism. The picture is open to interpretation and if you want to go out of your way to making it out to be somehow racist, you can.
Joy Ann-Reid wrote an article questioning what she could be intimidated by. She pulls out the white woman was afraid of the black man meme while criticizing the unfair black man is threatening meme. Of course racism exists and too often are men (and women) of color discriminated against. This was not such a case though, or at least we cannot possibly get that from a picture without a little invention on our parts.
Charles Blow, a New York Times columnist tweeted "Brewer said she felt 'a little bit threatened' by the President - CNN < Oh my. Was it his sagging pants or the way he was eyeing ur purse..."
The blogger New Black Woman wrote: "Sigh... really, Jan Brewer, threatened by a super, skinny intellectual black man serving as president of the United States? Nothing like the convenience of using the big, scary black man stereotype to excuse one's racism and lack of deference to the person holding the highest office in the land..."
Mr. Blow's rhetoric is about as helpful and insightful as many of my posts. It takes quick perception shots and creates a whole story around them. This is fine, but that is why we've posted our blog as entertainment and satire. We don't pretend to be newsmen. Ok, we do, so we're being hypocritical. But, in response to the New Black Woman's quote, you have used a stereotype to accuse Jan Brewer. There was certainly a pretty inexcusable lack of deference for President Obama by Governor Brewer, but to assume that she was intimidated by the color of his skin would be as ignorant as someone being intimidated by skin color in this century.
However, if Governor Brewer did this as a stunt to promote her book (which we won't name here in case she did, we don't want to give her the satisfaction), then she is an evil genius and no amount of optimism can be injected to cure such blatant cynicism.
No comments:
Post a Comment