by Damozel |A USA Today/Gallup poll shows that Obama, TIME Magazine's Person of the Year, is the man that most Americans (32%) admire most, while Hillary Clinton---in a more sharply divided poll---is, unsurprisingly--- the woman (20%), beating out Palin (11%), Oprah (8%), Condi (7%), and and Michelle Obama (3%). Obama beat W (5%), the Pope (2%), Bill Graham (2%), and Bill Clinton (2%). You can see longer lists of the contenders here.
In the meantime, in the midst of all this Obama- and Hillary-love, Chip Saltsman distributed a 41-track CD to committee members which contained Paul Shanklin's (written for Rush Limbaugh) song, "Barack the Magic Negro" (The Hill). Gosh, it's like a reflex with some Republicans, isn't it? When they want to amuse their GOP friends with a really "funny" "joke," I mean.
I agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates: Saltsman clearly is the right man for the RNC Chair and I hope they give it to him.
USA Today says that this is the first time in more than 50 years a president-elect has topped the charts. As for Hillary, she's held this position for seven consecutive years and has topped the list for a total of 13. (Gallup)
Gallup comments:
The 32% of Americans naming Obama as the man they most admire is extraordinarily high, nearly matching the 39% of Americans who named George W. Bush in the immediate wake of the 9/11 attacks. At that time, Bush's presidential job approval rating was a soaring 86%. It is also higher than former presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush received in any of their appearances on Gallup's Most Admired Man list.
Obama is the first president-elect since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 to top the list. And he has done it with a runaway high figure. For comparison, as president-elect in December 2000, George W. Bush was mentioned by just 5% of Americans, ranking him fourth. In December 1992, president-elect Bill Clinton ranked second behind outgoing president George H.W. Bush, with 15%. And in 1988, then president-elect Bush achieved third place, with 9%.
Now Bush is, in Gallup's words, "a distant second," garnering only 5% of the vote. (Who ARE these people? Never mind; I know. What I really mean is: "What's the MATTER with these people?") Gallup chirrups blithely:
There have only been a few other instances in Gallup's history of asking this question since 1948 that the sitting president was not named Most Admired Man, and few when a sitting president received this low percentage of mentions. Those include Lyndon Johnson in 1967 and 1968 (when Eisenhower was chosen, instead), Jimmy Carter in 1980 (when Pope John Paul II was chosen), and Richard Nixon followed by Gerald Ford from 1973 through 1975 (when Henry Kissinger topped the list).
As for Hillary, her highest rating was in 1988, when 28% of the respondents named her, but her 20% rating is 2% higher than last year's. (Gallup)
In the meantime, Palin made a strong showing at 11%. (I know who those people are too). And in fact, Gallup tells us.
Gallup finds little gender differences in Americans' choices for the men and women they most admire. However, there are strong partisan differences.
Democrats overwhelming name Barack Obama as the man they most admire, with Bill Clinton ranking second. Obama also ranks first among independents, although not with nearly as many mentions as among Democrats. Among Republicans, George W. Bush ranks first, named by 15%, followed closely by John McCain, with 9%....
Hillary Clinton is the first choice for Most Admired Women among Democrats and Independents. Palin is the first choice among Republicans and the second choice among independents.
Now let's talk about Chip Saltsman's gift of Paul Shanklin's many, many "amusing" "satires" and specifically about his gift of "Barack, the Magic Negro."
In March 2007, David Ehrenstein, whom Wikipedia describes as "an American critic who focuses primarily on issues of homosexuality in cinemam" explained the concept of the "magic Negro."
The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. "He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist," reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro .
He's there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.
As might be expected, this figure is chiefly cinematic — embodied by such noted performers as Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Scatman Crothers, Michael Clarke Duncan, Will Smith and, most recently, Don Cheadle. And that's not to mention a certain basketball player whose very nickname is "Magic."...
Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him.
The Hill has an audio of the song...and more!
The CD, called “We Hate the USA,” lampoons liberals with such songs as “John Edwards’ Poverty Tour,” “Wright place, wrong pastor,” “Love Client #9,” “Ivory and Ebony” and “The Star Spanglish banner.”
Of course, it ain't just LIBERALS being lampooned.
Kevin Drum remarks:
Since then, two of leading candidates to lead the Republican National Committee have helped prove Nelson's point.
Last month, we learned that Katon Dawson, a leading candidate for the chairmanship of the RNC, has been a longtime member of a whites-only country club in South Carolina. This month, Chip Saltsman, the former campaign manager for Mike Huckabee, embarrassed himself in a far more obvious way....
Saltsman defended his gift to RNC members, noting that he's a longtime friend of Shanklin and his songs for Limbaugh's program are meant to be "light-hearted political parodies."
Ta-Nehisi Coates agrees:
Man, why won't they just come out and admit it already? At least an elderly GOP relative of mine from SC had the self-awareness to come out and admit it. "I'm not voting for Obama," she declared. "And it's not because he's black." She paused. "Well, it's only a little because of that."
You know, if Republicans want to be racists, that's their choice. It's a free country. But they should be honest about it, so people like Sophia Nelson and Clarence Thomas and Condi can be disabused of any illusion that they're anything except tolerated at the table (and not even that, among some of the baser members of the "base").
Mattbastard at Bastard.Logic was as pleased as I was by this bit of information about a high-ranking member of a party that seems to have a bit of trouble with minority outreached:
Several of the track titles, including “Barack the Magic Negro,” are written in bold font.
That last bit was a thoughtful touch. Always make sure to highlight the race-bait, just in case the implications are too subtle for especially dense RNC bigots. Again, why bother blowing a dogwhistle when an airhorn will suffice?
There's a difference between satirizing a pol for something he or she is known to have done or for things he or she is known to have said. Most people draw the line at satirizing someone because of their race or ethnicity or poverty.
So it's hard to be "light hearted" when you're lampooning liberals, including even John Edwards, for trying to call attention to the plight of our marginalized fellow Americans. (Harry Shearer, for example, knows satire).
But if Republicans knew how to draw or where to draw lines, they would be Democrats.
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