Much has been made of Obama's response to BP, with a lot of folks on the left upset that he hasn't seemed to do enough, and then his defenders ask what more he could do. And that's not even taking into account the ludicrous arguments from the Right about how Obama's doing too much to BP, while at the same time not doing enough to stop the spill himself. For example, Spike Lee wanted Obama to "one time, go off!"
But... as many others have pointed out, if Obama does indeed show that on TV, he'll suddenly fall into the "angry black man" category, like it or not. The Daily Show's Larry Wilmore discussed this aspect of the media coverage on Wednesday, how Fox News constantly bashed Obama when he seemed to "aloof", and how Obama can thread the needle to get juuuuuust the right emotional level.
Video below the fold.
Wilmore: Why can't Obama be angry? It's OK when Tea Partiers get passionate. But when a black man shows, emotion, what? They think he's going to start flipping over cars?
Stewart: Well no, maybe people feel that it's not a white/black thing, it's just not presidential to show anger.
Wilmore: No, Jon, now look, it was always presidential when other Presidents did it. ... It's like the only black people don't mind being angry is Lewis Black. ... No drama Obama. Man, you guys are good journalists. See, Jon, it's black if you do, black if you don't.
Now look, my point is, if Obama's going to have any chance for a successful presidency, he's going to need to calibrate his feelings to a level acceptable to white people.
Stewart: But how?
Wilmore: Simple, Jon, very simple. With the Samuel L. Jackson Scale of Black Emotion.
Wilmore: At the bottom, there's the cool diplomatic wisdom of Jedi Master Mace Windu, and at the top, there's the Furious Anger Guy from Pulp Fiction. Now, President Obama, he needs to be somewhere between Frozone and Snakes on a Plane Guy.
Stewart: You're suggesting that Snakes on a Plane Guy should set the emotional tenor for the leader of the free world.
Wilmore: Who wouldn't be upset about motherfucking snakes on a motherfucking plane, Jon? They don't belong there! It makes me upset just thinking about it, OK? Being too aloof won't solve that motherfucking problem. (in Obama voice) I respectfully request that these snakes be, ah, relocated....
Stewart: All right, Larry, what if it doesn't work? Will still people be viewing him as a black man first and a President second?
Wilmore: It's possible, Jon. You know, it's too bad he's not Asian. You know, when they're cool, it's Zen. And when they get mad, it's just funny.
Actually, I'd posit to Larry that yes, if Obama gets angry, you're going to see Fox News, Drudge, Rush, etc., all equate him as someone flipping over cars. Yes, Bush and Clinton could get angry. Unfortunately, Obama is held to a different standard.
I mean, you guys saw the vapors Fox News had when Obama said "ass" to Matt Lauer, right? About how he was being "un-Presidential", right? (And what do you do with un-Presidential presidents?) That wasn't even at Snakes on a Plane Guy angry. But if you were wondering if the right-wing would twist that to make Obama the "angry black man", look no further than Matt Drudge, who went with "Obama goes street" as his blaring headline. "Street"? Gee, Matt, I wonder what kind of dog whistle we're supposed to hear from imagery.
Understand that a lot of the forcefulness Obama can and will use is going to be done behind the scenes. What, did you think when he met with BP executives to establish that $20 billion escrow fund, that he was on his hands and knees begging Tony Hayward to do it out of the goodness of his own heart? Or do you think Obama engaged in some hardball negotiations to extract that out of BP?
Understand also that I think Obama had been a bit too slow to react on the public front to the oil disaster, that it didn't seem like he was in control of the stuff that humans were in control of down in the Gulf, even after it was clear BP had been misleading everyone time and time again on the extent of the damage.
But please, don't suggest that Obama should show some anger to throw some red meat at us and satisfy some of our baser instincts. That'd be about the worst thing he could do in this situation.
I never got to how Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade wanted to know what that "robot was thinking" that knocked the containment cap off the oil leak. Jon Stewart sets Brian straight about sentient robots. Only wish he had included a reference to the show before his, Futurama, and the robot Bender. :-)
John Oliver also filed a great piece on how South African merchants are being subjugated due to the World Cup. You won't see that kind of journalism on ESPN.
If you didn't already see it last night, I highly recommend y'all watch those clips too.