In addition to Rush Limbaugh, I also listen to Laura Ingraham. She is not as skilled as Rush, or as smart; listening to her really is a kind of work. And sometimes it’s rewarding, like today; her guest was John McWhorter, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and sharp cultural critic who is also black. You can decide if the latter matters.
Though his academic specialty as a linguist is creole languages, McWhorter came to national prominence for his conservative critique of black culture and his argument that black Americans actively promote a culture of underachievement. Like Cosby, but with more bigger words. You can understand why conservatives love him. He’s also quite enthusiastically endorsed Barack Obama, but for a reason that strikes me as somewhat perverse. Essentially, he feels that the election of Obama would put professional grievance hustlers out of business. He seems to honestly believe that racism is no longer a problem in America — he’s argued against racial preferences in hiring and admissions — and Obama in the White House would end the argument. This seems like a kind of racial preference in hiring in and of itself, but whatever, McWhorter is undeterred:
When it comes to the prospect of an Obama presidency, however, I get it. A President Obama, with his black wife astride the planet with him and their children growing up before our eyes, would mean something that, as a Race Man, attracts me.
The number of black poor would remain disproportionate, and pranksters would still hang nooses now and then. However, Obama would stand as ineluctable proof that something has truly happened.
Each year, from January 15 through the end of Black History Month, the sage mantra is, “We’ve come a long way but we have a long way to go.” The implication is that the long way we’ve come is worth genuflective attention, at best. But, if the voice of America were a black man, there would be an elephant in the middle of the room 24/7.
He told Ingraham that he was willing to “cut corners” on policy (he didn’t specify where he differs, but presumably just about everything) in order to make “those people out there waving their arms” about racism “look like belong in another century.”
Is this part of some elaborate Republican trick? Cuz, I mean, seriously, that’s whack.