Sometimes I don't know which is worse...

I know I told you "regular blogging" would return shortly. This is not it. If like many, you're sick of the election/debate stuff, be forewarned: this is about that.

But, I urge all of you to read and respond to this post. I am pasting two comments (one long one that was continued in a second) from NPR's Web site in response to its "Bradley Effect" item. It is a comment from a supposed Obama supporter, but that is not why I'm posting it. There's so much wrong with it, I'm not even sure where to begin. I'm not posting it because it's an example of ignorance (though in many ways it is). I'm posting it because it gets at the crux of the subversive text of our national conversation on race.

Actually, I don't care if you are sick of the election. You need to read this and get back to me. This is the very thing we should be talking about. You do not need to be an Obama supporter to care about this issue. And if you don't find anything amiss with the sentiments the comments contain, you, especially, should write to me.

Jeff Murphy's NPR comment (Part 1):

This is going to sound mean. For all you black folks out their giddy with the prospect of an Obama presidency, please remember a few things: One, Obama is whiter than most white people. He grew up in freakin’ Kansas with his white grandparents and white mother. Culturally speaking he is white. Two, he was educated in elite, predomninately white schools. Three, Obama’s quest to get in touch with his black side was a calculated step to the presidency, he moved to Chicago to legitimize his blackness, evident in the choice of his black wife, because he knew full well America would not elect a mixed race couple to the presidency. In college, Obama preferred white women but suppressed it. Four, Obama doesn’t give a crap about blacks as a group that need the protection of society. Deep down, Obama has contempt for many blacks who profit from a protest culture manifested in white guilt. He will govern by filtering out all the petty bickering between blacks and white, he will actually be less tolerant of ‘needy’ minority groups seeking special consideration, and only he can tell this groups to take a hike. Fifth, whites can vote for him and feel safe that they are, in fact, voting identity politics. Obama’s midwestern, white family, is the connection that makes whites feel safe in voting for him. And many whites believes Obama’s midwestern rearing has had more of an influence on him than his basic training in Chicago politics and his absentee father. Sixth, everything Obama has done to this point has been calculated and programmed to win the presidency, and he has avoided the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons because he doesn’t like them, not because he’s scared of being labelled too black. Obama has racial bias against post reconstruction blacks they way many immigrant blacks do. Immigrant blacks have nothing but contempt for post reconstruction blacks and hold the view that homegrown blacks choose the excuse of racism to negate responsibility to their families and themselves. Obama’s symbolic carpet bagger status steals the thunder from race baitors who hoped the first black president would be a son of post reconstruction. Obama’s mother took the blue-light special to get Barack birthed on American soil. Obama is a son of the western united state, not the post reconstruction south. Seventh, Obama’s black identity left of a plane to Jakarta when he was a little boy, so his biggest connection to being black is manifested in abandonment. (Con't) [sic]

Jeff Murphy comment part 2:

Don’t be fooled by Obama’s black preacher and his brown skin, these were mere props in his journey that have brought him this far. He will most likely draw on his midwestern roots and identity when he becomes the 44th President of the United States. I, for one white person, am voting for Obama because he appears tired and drained from racial politics, I’m sure he hates it. This is what resonates with white people the most about Obama’s candidacy, we see his apathy about race and it is quite refreshing. He doesn’t give a crap, and this is what endears him to whites. Black pundits fail to understand this because they remain lost in the wilderness of the victim culture. Too many of us are sick and tired of the victim culture, white guilt, and endless racial politics, and this is what will piut Obama over the top to win the presidency. Vote Obama [sic]