Barack The Magic Negro: Is it Myth, Reality or Both?

In 2007 shortly after then Senator Obama announced his intent to run for president there was an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles times entitled  Obama the 'Magic Negro' in which the author is likening Obama to basically whatever it is that made Sidney Poitier, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman and the Michael Clarke Duncan’s of the world cross over box office hits. According to the author David Erehestein (via Wikipedia) 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," The author expounds upon his wiki-weak definition of Magic Negro by saying “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." Hence his reference to Poitiers ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, Freeman’s Driving Miss Daisy, Duncan’s Green Mile and any Will Smith flick. 

 The author maintains that Obama’s rise in popularity and political prominence had much more to do with mythical Hollywood cultural tendencies than it did his politics, oratory skills or even the anti-Bush political climate. The sentiments from the article gathered little moss because within a years time Obama had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was more than a Hollywood myth by defeating the Clinton juggernaut en route to the democratic nomination.

Name That Tune 

A year later a far less innocuous version of the Magic Negro made even bigger headlines. This time it was in the form of a song by  political satirist Paul Shanklin. It was called Barack The Magic Negro and it was a parody using the Puff The Magic Dragon theme. The fact that Rush Limbaugh used the song as an intro to his radio show is proof enough that it was offensive, but if that's not enough evidence peep the lyrics-- "Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper Said he makes guilty whites feel good They’ll vote for him, and not for me 'Cause he's not from the hood (in a Sharpton voice with a bullhorn effect). Kind of cleaver for a race baiting wind bag like Rush Limbaugh who needs such insidious and divisive commentary to feed the ethos of his mostly racist and mostly ignorant listeners but a terrible idea for a person with aspirations of being chairman of the Republican national committee. That was the mistake made by the then front running candidate to head the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee. In December of 2008 Chip Salter who was campaigning to lead the RNC for the next two years thought it prudent to mail copies of the“Barack The Magic Negro” song to the voting members of the RNC. Needless to say it became a public relations nightmare for himself and the party and he ended up having to withdraw his name from contention forcing the party to play their race card by making an undue, unneeded and moreover unproductive choice of Michael Steele as the first HNIC of the RNC. If Obama is the lefts Magic Negro Steele is no doubt the rights 'Tragic Negro'. Beware of flying pigs and frigid temperatures in hell if Michael Steele is retained as chairman of the RNC.

Numbers vs No's

Upon taking the oath of office in January of 2009 Obama was up against the most concerted effort to obstruct progress by an opposing congress than any man before him but with a super majority in the house and a filibuster proof 60 seat senate majority he had enough numbers to get the stimulus passed averting a double dip recession and even worst a second great depression. He was able to get the Lilly Ledbetter Act passed making it illegal to be so immoral as to purposely pay a woman less money than a man for the same work. Then Ted Kennedy died and the seat long held by the liberal Lion of the senate fell into republican hands stripping the democrats of their filibuster proof majority and making the filibuster the weapon of choice in operation make Obama fail. Even still, the democrats were some how able to get health care reform passed giving rise to the demystification of Obama's Black Magic in action. Health care reform was followed by Wall Street and credit card reforms adding more notches to Obama's political belt but also fueling more anger from his republican counter parts who put their money where their mouth was and took full advantage of the Citizens United ruling by funneling unmitigated and unprecedented corporate funds in to the campaign coffers of almost every tea bagging republican that vowed to oppose Obama over doing what's right for their constituency and the country as a whole.

The inordinate amount of money that flowed into the political arena was enough to frame the debate and from health care reform to financial reform the president and his democratic congressional allies were on the low end of every opinion poll relative to the beltway banter. It was looking pretty bad for anyone sporting a D next to their name.

Mid-term Malaise

 As expected and widely predicted the democrats were creamed by the republicans and saw their super majority in the house turn to a super minority, and in the senate they saw their one time 60 seat majority hold reduced to a very simple majority. As the president held a news conference following what he called a shellacking by the republicans the dejected look on his face combined with his passive aggressive tone had him looking weak and defeated.  He took blame for not being bi-partisan enough with a GOP senate minority leader  that vowed to make him a one term president and an incoming speaker of the house that says compromise is a bad word (when he's not weeping). At the time the president was looking like the new kid at school with no friends and desperate to gain some. He was not looking very magical.

The compromise Heard Round The World

 Then came the compromise heard round the world where he granted a two year extension of the Bush era tax cuts for all Americans including the top 2 percent of wage earners who did not need or deserve the huge tax breaks that are sure to leave an even larger hole in the deficit. You would have thought he carried out a preemptive strike on Granada with how the news of the deal was received, regurgitated and reported by liberal leaning media outlets. They were disappointed in the president for extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy for two years even though in the deal he extended unemployment and further reduced payroll taxes for 95 percent of Americans as promised  by the president on the campaign trail (a promise he actually over delivered on). It was still not enough to satisfy the liberal base of the democratic party and for almost a week there was talk about the president capitulating and caving to republicans and there was even discussion about a primary challenge (who knew their talent pool was that deep?) much to the chagrin of the of the moderate minded among us who either understood the precarious predicament the president was in, was satisfied that on January first they would not see a reduction in their pay check or the discontinuance of their unemployment benefits. While the most liberal wing of the democratic party was busy whining and  licking their wounds, and the republicans were still taking victory laps celebrating what ended up being a Pyrrhic victory; Obama, Nancy Pelosie and Harry Reid were quietly crafting a series of deals that would make pulling a rabbit out of a hat seem like a rather simple task.

Who would have ever predicted that after two years of saying no in lock step to the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, no to the ratification of the START treaty, No to the food safety bill, no to the 911 first responders bill and no to every other measure proposed or supported by this president that in span of two weeks he would have enough senate republican yes's to complete his socialist take over of America? I mean that's pretty much why they said they were saying no in the first place. All pun a side the accomplishments of Obama and this lame duck congress is nothing short of miraculous when you you consider the fact that all the republicans had to do is run out the clock. The president was on the ropes with a rapidly eroding base and in rope-a-dope style he scored  big with the judges (the American people) by knocking down Mitch McConnell's 'no pact' and actually getting some of his most pressing initiatives passed in to law as promised on the campaign trail and while he's been  president.

Winners and losers

Next to gay American soldiers, unemployed folks who narrowly escaped their benefits ending, working Americans that did not want to see their pay checks decrease by way of higher taxes and the 911 first responders who are living with and dying from cancer and other respiratory issues  the president and his fledgling party were the biggest winners because in the midst of the 2012 campaign season they need all of the wins that they can get and  in two weeks is a big fucking deal as vice president Biden would say. The biggest loser(s)? No doubt that would be the senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. Even before these last round of wins by the president came to fruition McConnell's leadership was in question because of how his power in the senate has been usurped by the defacto minority leader and avid Tea Partier Jim DeMint who many blame for the republicans not taking over the Senate giving McConnell and the republicans the carte blanche powers that they were hoping for. McConnell lost his caucus and if I were a republican strategist I would seriously urge my party to reconsider him as a leader in the senate due to his suspect leadership. The bad part about Mitch is unlike Michael Steele he is not an affirmative action hire. He was appointed leader based on skill set, a skill set that has yet to yield results for himself, his party or the American people.

In conclusion and moreover to answer the original query, the 44th president is not a Magic Negro, he's much closer to a highely erudite pragmatic politician with foresight and a keen understanding of people and politics. He's also a very lucky guy because the leadership on all levels of his oppisition party (House, Senate, RNC) are  a very poor and ineffective bunch that can't even do the wrong thing right.