I first cringed when I heard Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) say in the interview above that President Obama has proved "over and over, in spades" that he didn't have the experience for the job. That's one thing; after all, anyone playing a card game, or perhaps gardening, may have occasion to use the word "spade," despite its racial double-meaning.
But "tar baby"? One can understand why that is a little tougher to take literally when used in the context of the first black president. (And it doesn't even mean what she thinks it means.)
Referring to the Obama energy plan concerning the Keystone XL pipeline and his economic record, the former Republican candidate for the President's job said this at about the 1:48 mark of the video above:
This is just about [waving] a tar baby in the air and saying that something else is a problem. I have never seen a more irresponsible President who is infantile in the way that he continually blames everyone else for his failure to first diagnose the problem and second to address the problem.
The inevitable No, That Wasn't Meant To Sound Racist™ walkback came quickly, to Politico. (Spot the anti-abortion dog-whistle!)
“The Congresswoman values all human life – regardless of race, color or creed,” Rogness said. “If you listen to the interview, Rep. Bachmann was making a point about the President’s poor understanding of oil prices, which has nothing to do with race. The President doesn’t understand the oil market and hence, has gotten himself into a sticky situation.”
That sounds more like a clarification than an apology. It's pretty evident that she saw nothing wrong with the metaphor. (Again, the full context of the comment is above, so you can determine for yourself what you hear.)
To me, this is less about whether or not it was meant to be racist. It's the fact that when you say "tar baby" within 500 rhetorical yards of President Obama, you can expect some blowback, and Republicans like Bachmann either are so careless and ignorant of what this kind of term means, or they couldn't care less, period.
That fits the paradigm by which the Right has operated under for decades: racial problems are solved, at least to their satisfaction. But if one complains about the racial connotations -- or in Fox Nation, merely reports the story, you bad, "left-wing Politico" -- it's essentially their fault. Anti-racism is racism, per the Right. (Remember the term "reverse discrimination"? Yeah, that was fun.)
Sadly, I think it has a lot to do with what Atlantic senior editor Ta-Nehisi Coates articulated today (with a properly figurative, less racially weighted use of the word "tar," by the way):
The conservative movement doesn't understand anti-racism as a value, only as a rhetorical pose. This is how you end up tarring the oldest integrationist group in the country (the NAACP) as racist. The slur has no real moral content to them. It's all a game of who can embarrass who. If you don't think racism is an actual force in the country, then you can only understand it's invocation as a tactic.
This is a very old way of you thinking. It's what you get out of watching Buckley's bumbling response to Baldwin--he neither regards Baldwin with any seriousness, nor the issue with any real concern. It's a game to him. He is effectively a homer for team red. Nothing else matters.
When he refers to James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr., Coates is talking about this video of their televised debate, which he posted last week. I recommend that you watch it in full to get a better grasp on just how long this kind of stuff has been going on.
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When Tony Snow used the term he had to apologize as I recall.
OMG, she is a moron. She has sucked off the government her entire life even though she says she never recieved government money. I can't look at this hateful woman and this is the problem in our country. I thought it had been settled in the 60s when I was a kid and afraid of what was going on, now it's worse, I'm afraid these loons will take over our government. What is wrong with these ppl, did they just hear about the browning of America? Do they understand the concept of our democracy and equal righrs for all? They think it is theirs ONLY!! Dems see the glass as half full, repugs see the glass as theirs. ;(
Don't let us forget that anything our President does or say is not enough to satisfy Republicans...He knows that so I bet he care less what some Bachmann is talking about especially after her so called "presidential" campaign. (more SNL interview for job). If he approves Keystone XL without hesitation it would be wrong and if he refuses it is wrong again in eyes of Bachmann's and Co. I just fear they are going to buy these elections for "empty suit" Romney and we are going to be screwed for years to come
The GOP never seems to apologize, they walk back but never say sorry. I have said it before "They call themselves good Christians." I never learned this evilness in my church.
When I moved from California to Virginia in 1971 I thought I'd taken a step back in time 100 years. The racism was open and blatant. The only thing that has changed is it's somewhat hidden now. I'm thankful my children and especially my grandchildrens attitudes about race are much improved from my generations. I'm afraid it will take my generation dieing off to make any real progress. The most disturbing thing to me about Ms Bachman is her profession to be a Christian. I see no love, grace or charity in the woman only hate.
One of the problems with Bachmann is that tries to parrot what her advisors tell her to say. I winced when she used the term "Spade"...I heard it used last week and I said to myself "Well, maybe it refers to cards" like MHP. However, this use of a 'tarbaby being waved in the air' is inappropriate. The term should only be used in Uncle Remus stories. I am white, when I lived down south one summer in 1969, I would hear that term being used racially. It shocked me then, leading to long discussions about equal rights and it shocks me now. I worry it is a term she hears and then unfortunately uses in yet another 'mispoken' way.
Bachman's use of the term "infantile" when talking about the president also bothers me. I don't remember any elected official ever calling a president such, or even referring to him as childish or immature or anything similar. At best, this was extremely insensitive (or ignorant) given the historical context--a time when whites commonly called grown black men "boy."
By Ms Bachmann's same logic, and Senator McConnell's invocation to make job one "making Obama a one term president!", might it be said that from the beginning of President Obama's term in office everything the Republicans have done can be seen through a filter meant to demean, disrespect and destroy his presidency? I thought in a Democracy, once a leader was elected, the country was suppose to say,"O K , we will try it your way for a while." What we have had instead is three and a half years of temper tantrums and rebellion.
The repulsive "...Republicans have done can be seen through a filter meant to demean, disrespect and destroy his presidency..."
It is incredible that more voters do not see through this charade. The GOP is happy to wreck the country just to make The President look less effective. Thanks to: Koch Devils, Murdochs, ALEC, etc. the list goes on.
Let us pray for a wholesale kicking out of the right wing-nuts in November!
WTF is she talking about?????????
The interviewer moved on from gas prices to the XL oil pipeline (as if the high gas prices are due to the fact that we didn't go with the XL plan?), and Bachmann goes back to the gas prices saying Obama has a $52 million proposal to shut up speculators? Speculators of the reasoning and viablity/safety of the XL oil pipeline? That doesn't make any sense.
OH! Ofcourse not. No! Ofcourse, Obama made a proposal (in response to the XL proposal?) that we should spend money on shutting up people who criticize gas prices... before they even reached the $4 mark and all this talk about gas prices even started. ... yeah.
What a dumb person.
"...the President doesn't understand the oil market..." How long did Michele Bachmann run for president and why didn't her campaign last very long? Oh yeah, that's right, because she is stupid and can't grasp anything that requires even the a basic level of critical thinking!