John McLaughlin Group: Obama "Fits The Stereotype..(Of) An Oreo"
By Nicole Belle Sunday Jul 13, 2008 3:00pm
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Barack Obama may be our first post-racial politics candidate, but it's clear the media has not caught up to that paradigm, especially any show that includes John McLaughlin and Pat Buchanan amongst its panel. Kudos to Media Matters, who caught it first:
On the edition of the syndicated program The McLaughlin Group that aired the weekend of July 11-13, while discussing recent comments made by the Rev. Jesse Jackson about Sen. Barack Obama, host John McLaughlin said: "Question: Does it frost Jackson, Jesse Jackson, that someone like Obama, who fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo -- a black on the outside, a white on the inside -- that an Oreo should be the beneficiary of the long civil rights struggle which Jesse Jackson spent his lifetime fighting for?"
If I had been a guest on that panel, I think my jaw would have dropped right then. Oreo? Really, that's the best place to take this conversation? To his credit, Peter Beinart does tell McLaughlin that it's an unfair depiction, but McLaughlin perseveres, thinking he's caught Beinart in a rhetorical trap when Beinart dismisses the notion that Obama should give as much weight to issues of discrimination in incarceration.
BEINART: But...Barack Obama doesn't talk about jobs and healthcare? He talks about it all the time. If he wanted to talk about the fact that there are too many people in prison, then you're asking him to do something that will lose him the election. That is politically...no serious political strategist...
MCLAUGHLIN: Oh...oh...oh...[crosstalk]
BEINART: He is a man trying to win the presidency, John.
MCLAUGHLIN: But then he's exactly what Jeremiah Wright says he is. He will do whatever is necessary to win.
So hold up here, McLaughlin. That he doesn't talk about prison rates in the black community but encourages fathers (on Father's Day, mind you) to be present in their children's lives, he's doing whatever is necessary to win? And then you had to give the floor to Pat Buchanan:
MCLAUGHLIN: Does Jackson have a legitimate point?
BUCHANAN: No, he doesn't. I'll tell you why, John. Here's why. What Barack Obama is saying is the message that needs to be heard. It's the Bill Cosby message. It is "Look, this is our responsibility. These are our families. White society is not responsible for our kids dropping out of schools or using drugs or going on welfare. We are." What Jesse Jackson says, is the white community's responsible and they've got to solve our problems.
Oh help me. Stereotype much, Pat? This is what passes as elevated public television political debate in this country. The omnipresent Michelle Bernard tries to get this back on track and get the old guard to catch up on post-race politics:
BERNARD: I want to go back to the point you made about whether or not Barack Obama is an Oreo, because if Barack Obama is an Oreo, then every member of this generation of African Americans is an Oreo, because we stand on the shoulders of the people who fought for our rights and all of us say that you cannot blame "The Man" or white racism for everything that ails the black community.
Pam's House Blend looks at that "nugget of truth"...
UPDATE: Media Matters is circulating a petition to ask John McLaughlin to apologize on air.
Transcripts below the fold:
MCLAUGHLIN: Does it frost Jackson-Jesse Jackson-that someone like Obama, who fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an "Oreo" -black on the outside, while white on the inside-that an "Oreo" should be the beneficiary of the long civil rights struggle which Jesse Jackson spent his lifetime fight for? Peter Beinart?
BEINART: Who knows what Jesse Jackson is thinking. But that is a completely unfair depiction of Barack Obama, who...the genius of Barack Obama is that he moves seamlessly between the African American world and the white world in a way that even Bill Clinton couldn't possibly match. And the tragedy of this experience is you know who's spoken eloquently for many, many years about personal responsibility in the black community? Jesse Jackson. He of all people should recognize in fact that what Barack Obama is saying is not contrary to the message of the civil rights movement, it is in keeping with that message.
MCLAUGHLIN: Let's nail this down a little bit more, for the sake of Jackson. The question is this: Jackson's point of contention is this, this is the exit question. The point of contention is that instead of Obama solely lecturing African Americans on parental duty, particularly fathers, he should have also given equal attention to the large and many believe prejudicial incarceration rate for blacks, their lack of economic opportunity and other public policy issues that limit choices for black males. Why doesn't Obama hit that as hard as he hits individual parental responsibility? That's what Jackson's complaining about.
BEINART: But...Barack Obama doesn't talk about jobs and healthcare? He talks about it all the time. If he wanted to talk about the fact that there are too many people in prison, then you're asking him to do something that will lose him the election. That is politically...no serious...political strategist
MCLAUGHLIN: Oh...oh...oh...[crosstalk]
BEINART: He is a man trying to win the presidency, John.
MCLAUGHLIN: But then he's exactly what Jeremiah Wright says he is. He will do whatever's necessary to win.
BEINART: He's a practical politician.
CLIFT: This is a generational shift. Jesse Jackson, Jr. put out a statement basically saying "Dad, time to leave the stage." There is a disconnect in terms of style and tactics from the older civil rights generation to the generation that Obama is from and that he's trying to attract.
MCLAUGHLIN: Does Jackson have a legitimate point?
BUCHANAN: No, he doesn't. I'll tell you why, John. Here's why. What Barack Obama is saying is the message that needs to be heard. It's the Bill Cosby message. It is "Look, this is our responsibility. These are our families. White society is not responsible for our kids dropping out of schools or using drugs or going on welfare. We are." What Jesse Jackson says, is the white community's responsible and they've got to solve our problems.
MCLAUGHLIN: Isn't this the oddity of the century, where a Barack Obama is a conservative and Jesse Jackson is the liberal? Isn't that an oddity?
[laughter]
BUCHANAN: Well, Jesse Jackson used to talk this way...
BERNARD: It is an oddity, but I want to go back to the point you made about whether or not Barack Obama is an Oreo, because if Barack Obama is an Oreo, then every member of this generation of African Americans is an Oreo, because we stand on the shoulders of the people who fought for our rights and all of us say that you cannot blame "The Man" or white racism for everything that ails the black community.
MCLAUGHLIN: What about changing public policy where it needs to be changed?
BERNARD: Well, you change public policy, but, but....
[crosstalk]
BERNARD: If I could finish my point, when Jesse Jackson came out and said when he gave his quote unquote apology the next day was Barack Obama should be demanding more government programs for African Americans and that's wrong.
CLIFT: As Jack White, a former Time Magazine writer, says that it's disorienting for the black community when "The Man" might be the guy in the Oval Office and so everybody's making some adjustments here, but Barack Obama is handling his role beautifully and that is to relate to America as a broad population.
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White society is not responsible for our kids dropping out of schools or using drugs or going on welfare. We are
if a black man had said this, would anyone care?
I remember George Jefferson calling a black dude an oreo on the old TV show called The Jeffersons, and Fred Sanford calling anothe black dude a Zebra.
I was very young but I knew those were pejoratives.
Good people don't use words like that.
Just when I thought I was getting ripped off by the government because my taxes were only supporting killing Arabs now I get to see my tax dollars hard at work spreading racism!! Fantastic bang for the buck they give you there in Washington!
I don't know what to think about the comment. I know the term Oreo. But in this context it may be appropriate given the topic of discussion. "Mixed race" might have been more correct, but would lack impact.
I'm so sick of these "lilly white" shows giving opinions on the African American community.
Its blatant racism.
What Jesse Jackson says, is the white community’s responsible and they’ve got to solve our problems.
ouch! i think jackson might actually agree.....
When he says "Peter Beinart" it almost sounds like "Pita Banana".
Its blatant racism.
can you explain how so?
and, can you also answer the question: what is racism?
Ryoko @ 3:
ok so i can call half japanese people "rice bowls", or half italians "meatballs" maybe half english people "world raping cocksuckers"
fits your logic
JimboSlice @ 2:
More bang, less buck.
Its also amazing how white supremacist Pat Buchannan gets to spew his right wing lying bullshit all over television.
hotmouth @ 8:
Buchanan is all you say he is but, he does make a good point every so often.
He said, "Clinton lost this primary battle in October 2002."
hotmouth @ 8:
Freedom of speech.
God forbid he said "Fuck" on TV.
"does it bother Barrack Obama that a wealthy white guy can refer to him as an "oreo"?
Jesse Jackson makes his living on the poor black people, keeping them poor is part of the equation.
Obama spoke from his heart and he knows that the Rev. Al/Jesse Jackson method is undermining (heck, exploiting), the black community.
Mr. McLaughlin is a bigoted white man and shouldn't be using terms like oreo. Will he call McCain's pandering to the hispanic vote as taco bending?
Come to think of it why does PBS still give this dinosaur air time. He is proof that age makes us all a little cranky and unbalanced.
Kinda like McLame.
There isn't more establishment than graduating from Harvard. Except for graduating from Yale.
If Obama wins, it will be a minimum of 32 straight years with a man from Harvard or Yale as president and or vice president.
But I'm sure there's no pattern here. Just a coincidence. Just like ice cream being cold is just a coincidence.
"Billionaires for Obama or McCain!"
Mc Laff In ...
toooo bad it's not fuuuunnnnyyy
It's just entertainment. Do you want McLaughlin fired like Imus?
um, Pat was exactly correct. he was speaking as if he were a Cosbyian black man.
it's frustrating that people knee-jerk so often that they become incapable of absorbing the main message.
personal responsibility will save any struggling group faster than anything else ever can. say it until you fucking get it.
McLaughlin says Obama will say of do anything to win. Of course, McSame wouldn't. The man who once called Falwell an agent of intolerance then turned around and started licking his butt crack.
And there's no such thing as race or mixed race. We're all humans. Except for the reptilian aliens. Words like "oreo" are simply lame attempts at race baiting. A popular marketing tool to divide and conquer us so we don't watch the asshole pulling the strings behind the curtains.
The sound like a bunch of chickens. This is a must-watch video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiYD21fnTT8
Here's a question for McLaughlin: As an old fart what term do you use for a Brazil nut?
Peter G @ 20:
I love Brazil nuts.
Here's a test for Buchanan: Complete this childhood rhyme, Eenie, meenie,minie.moe...
...because we stand on the shoulders of the people who fought for our rights and all of us say that you cannot blame “The Man” or white racism for everything that ails the black community.
Well, other than the fact that, yeah, pretty much you CAN blame "the Man," and "white racism" (of which there is no other relevant kind in the good ol' red_WHITE-and-blue USofA), for damn near everything that ails the black community, yeah, i'd agree...wadda maroon...
by the way, some background on Michelle Bernard, via The Daily Howler: At present, Bernard is CEO of the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative women’s group founded in 1992. (According to Wikipedia, the IWF grew out of an ad hoc group created to support Clarence Thomas.) The groups directors emeritae include such conservative stars as Lynn Cheney, Wendy Gramm, Midge Decter and Kate O’Beirne. To peruse the group’s web site, just click here.
Peter G @ 22:
Catch a Nigerian by the toe....
this election season definitely shows just how
racist, bigoted and LOW CLASS Americans are.
and that includes these arrogant ass-wipes in
the media, what a bunch of f#cking neocon pundits.
Pat and John are like every woman's ex-husbands.
dadams @ 25:
Wait #ntil the #nions in #tah hear about this.
Kreg @ 27:
F#ck, I meant: "abo#t this".
oh puleeze @ 16:
Just outta mean curiousity, of what struggling group or groups are you now or have ever been a member? (White male anything does not count)
Charles @ 13:
trying to sneak your neocon bias in, are we?
dadams @ 30:
Peter G @ 22:
We always learned "tiger". Thanks for ruining that!
The title line of this article is misleading, in that it suggests that McClaughlin is calling Obama an Oreo. But this is simply not the case, as he is discussing a point of view that he feels has been voiced by "the black community" (exactly whom this community is representative of is another question...). The exact quote reads as follows:
"Does it frost Jackson, Jesse Jackson, that someone like Obama, who fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo..."
I don't happen to like the guy either, but misconstruing his words in order to induce others to develop beliefs that are contrary to the facts is amateur, at best.
What these guys all forget is that Barack Obama is just as much white as he is black. He's not a "black" candidate, he is a candidate who has a unique perspective because he's lived in both the black and white worlds.
hotmouth @ 8:
It seems the old fart (Buchannan, not McKeating) is on TV every dang night. What the hell does he offer other than the same crap he spews for years? The fact that he is on so often says everything about the Repub talking heads.
Personally, I thought Pat Buchanan's comb over was looking really nice.
***** you guys, I'm going home.
Fanon @ 32:
Sorry Fanon. In some respects you're lucky to have missed "the good ole days".
Seems like McLaughlin is old enough to be using mulatto.
Liberals love to play a two-handed game with the issue of stereotyping. Frankly, I think stereotyping is sometimes valid. Take white southerners of the 1950s. Wouldn't you say that, as a group, they were just a wee bit racist? I feel free in stereotyping today's Republicans as generally stupid and dishonest. Anybody here want to argue with me over that? Today, liberals celebrate folks like Amanda Marcotte who is forever stereotyping men and conservatives in a negative light with varying degrees of accuracy—and even when she's been jaw-droppingly wrong, as with the Duke lacrosse rape case, her star has only continued to ascend.
I lived in New York and went to Hunter College and, after that sometimes grueling experience, I have no problem as stereotyping a significant portion of the black community as being grossly dysfunctional and in the habit of blaming others for their own self-inflicted problems. This is not to deny that a lot of what's going on is a sociological hangover from 300 years of slavery and Jim Crow but slavery and Jim Crow are both long dead. And since we have a black guy with a serious shot at being Prez and, since we've had two black Secretary of States in a row, I really don't think racism in this country is exactly insurmountable anymore. A neurosis is sometimes defined as a psychological defense mechanism that has outlived its usefulness. Destroying your chances in life when you actually don't have many to begin with is a way of seeming to exercise control over your fate. Look, when Bill Cosby, Spike Lee, Stanley Crouch and, yes, Jesse Jackson have talked about how blacks, using racism as an excuse, have screwed their own chances, I'm not going to look down on the often excreable Pat Buchanan for saying the same thing.
Mc Laughlin is well known as an occasional troublemaker with his inflammatory comments, but this goes too far. Invoking a crude racial stereotype degrades our national debate, which is in the tank already.
I used to like their show but it has devolved into little more than a shouting match between the participants instead of a civil and thoughtful discussion. I guess that Mc Laughlin isn't below turning his show into a bawdy circus to jack up the ratings. For shame.
A few knees are jerking over what Buchanan said. I guess you guys can't take much he has to say and look at the meaning, you sound just as shrill as the group. His take as I heard it, was Obama is telling the black community that they are responsible for themselves. Not unlike what I used to hear from my parents as a child. Everyone has to take a deep breath and actually listen.
Woody, your comments are racist and bigoted. You are actually saying one group of people can have no valid opinions about something because of the color of their skin. If you are black, well, you should see the irony in that.
Hieronymus Braintree @ 40:
That's no excuse for not setting a better example--and Mc Laughlin failed the leadership test by using this useless and invalid stereotype. Stereotyping is just a way to invoke a simplistic solution on a complex problem by generalization. Mc Laughlin could help himself by raising the bar on the quality of our national discussion.
Kreg @ 7:
Agreed Jimbo!
The value of the dollar has plummeted too far for "bucks". Definety more bangs.
Peter G @ 38:
Well, I sometimes wonder if that isn't what Jesse is a little pissed off about. (Disclaimer: I live in Chicago, so we hear more aobut Jesse than just what hits the national news) He seems angry at times that a lot of black and white people are working together. Not stridently, not defiantly, just together. So many of us have groups of friends that are fully integrated and we don't even give the whole "race thing" a second thought. It's the same as the "gay thing", it's just one more thing that a person is tall, short, black, white, gay, straight and you don't even bat an eye. Maybe it's a generational thing to worry about it and maybe (thank your own personal puppet in the sky) it's on it's way out.
I am not the best at expressing myself, so, apololgies from the start.
It's beyond me how these guys don't realize they need to shut the fk up as an alternative to saying something stupid. Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. -Abe.
This is about drawing a line in the sand. You do not....also, Oreo is not the preferred nomenclature.
So, when old geezer white guys who are racists out themselves, what perjorative is best to describe these people?
odanny @ 48:
Republicans
Orea is not a term for "mixed race" it's a term for "race traitor."
McLaughlin: "He will do whatever is necessary to win."
Remember the rules: only Democrats ever actually try to become president. Republicans simply hang around until one day the cry goes up from the country for A Real Leader, and as distasteful as it may be for such strong, silent types, they wipe the grime off their chins and accept the mantle. Because sometimes there's just leadin' to be done.
odanny @ 48:
Caviar covered saltine cracker?
With this librul media in the bag for Obama, it's going to be a Democratic landslide.
Mike Mid City @ 12:
He should be tied up and thrown in a pit on rabid dogs with O'Really.
Walter Sobcek @ 49:
Oooo, I like yours better. lol
Rick Massimo @ 51:
The repugnants just sit back and let the media pick the president, then lie, smear and support all the lies about the opponent.
these people need to get around more . . . maybe broaden their definitions of "black" and "white" . . . as it is, they are too ill-informed to have a forum on our national airwaves
X @ 33:
You stopped your quote just before McLaughlin continued his thought and did indeed call Obama an "oreo" (gad, what an ugly term!). I emphasize the important point:
MCLAUGHLIN: Does it frost Jackson-Jesse Jackson-that someone like Obama, who fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an “Oreo” -black on the outside, while white on the inside-that an “Oreo” should be the beneficiary of the long civil rights struggle..."
Semantics, really. I can say to someone, "You look like the ugliest person I've ever met" and still not technically call them ugly. But everyone knows what I meant.
casper46 @ 55:
Republicons ?
some old fat white guy is talking about "OREOS" in the black community ???
when was the last time this racist fuck talked to anyone who was black ???
mcsame ain't the only old white dude who lost his bearings ...
fire this fucking bigot
Walter Sobcek @ 49:
That's not a pejorative term.
Oh, wait a minute. Nevermind, you were being serious. My bad.
Jerry @ 59:
Nicole Belle praises Obama as someone who "encourages fathers [on Father's Day, mind you] to be present in their children's lives". What M. Belle conveniently ignores are the stereotypes that Obama engages in while giving his stirring speeches across the country, as when Obama tells his audience that Black children will never succeed academically because they are consuming too much Popeye chicken or that Black folks [that is the word that Obama likes to employ to demonstrate that he is one of the people-folks] should not be throwing "garbage out of their cars." Obama also criticizes Black men for not performing their parental duties, as if all Black men should be stereotyped for what some Black fathers have failed to do. As this African-American civil rights activist makes clear, Obama will say anything and will pander to his audiences across the country in order to make sure that he achieves his coveted goal-the presidency.
http://www.counterpunch.org/gray07112008.html
Did McLoughlin just say, "Oreo"? I'm sure he could have made his point without using the insulting term. Its not even accurate given Obama's mixed heritage.
The fucktard McLaughlin does not get the concept that Obama is of mixed racial stock. He is as white as he is black...
Strange... he can say this but Imos gets fired? When is this old piece of crap getting fired? I want him fired.
Bananaphone @ 58:
Yes. McLaughlin took a moment to clarify the term before he used it in order to facilitate a little known concept known as context.
And furthermore, calling someone ugly and telling them that they resemble a person that you believe to be ugly are similar statements - but not equivalent to one another...
If McLaughlin wanted to call the guy an "Oreo", he likely would have unapologetically done so without qualification. I mean, really, have these guys ever been careful about what they spew from their mouths? If they were, then this website would be out of business...
Erroll @ 63:
Erroll, this is not the first time you've put words in my mouth. I never praised Obama for his Father's Day speech. To be completely honest, I never heard the full speech. What I was doing was contrasting the statement by McLaughlin that since Barack Obama didn't talk about incarceration rates in the black community (and evidently implying that he wasn't sticking up for African American concerns in that Father's Day speech) that he would say anything to win.
I'm not dealing in the veracity of what Barack Obama did or did not say. I'm objecting to an older white pundit say that he has to express "black" concerns to not be pandering to win the presidency.
I have many concerns with the Obama campaign, which I've expressed to you in other threads, but my focus is on media bias.
"The McLaughlin Group" is still on TV? I thought all those people died years ago.
Erroll @ 63:
Please.
I noticed that you omitted parts of Obama's statements yet kept them in quotes. Note, the original texts all say "some fathers" and "some black folks," or perhaps, "too many black folks."
Take your concern somewhere else.
Can we start calling McCain the "white candidate"? Maybe just McWhitey or McCasper.
Rusty Steelers = Packers Shackleford @ 72:
They did. Its privately funded stem cell research.
More, from the How-The-Frig-Would-You-Know-If-You-Never-Asked Department:
"BET is proud to present "Thinking Like A White Person", with tonight's topic: 'Cracker', Are White People Taking It Back? If Not, What's Up With Robbie Coltrane!?! Tonight at 8pm, don't miss it!"
Obama can't be "an oreo". As I take the term, it's like calling someone an "Uncle Tom". When one of your parents is black and one is white it's a different thing altogether and showing both parts of your heritage is totally authentic. By the way his [white, deceased] mom was born in 1942, only 5 years older than Hillary Clinton. A bit of trivia.
Charles @ 13:
There is a new Yale. I'm not going to say its not elitist, but its no longer as much about old money as it was. Comparing the Bush's etc to Obama is rididiculous. They got in because of money and connection (which doesn't get you as far in admissions these days). Obama (like me and other no rich, non-legacies, or minorities) got in because he was hella smart and hard-working. Heaven forbid we have smart hardworking people in the oval office!
One could say similar things about Harvard and their pretty awesome finicial aid. However, as a Yalie and a life long Harvard hater, all I can say is Harvard sucks, and you are right to condem Havardians. I will happily expand on why Yale is awesome and Harvard sucks.
I love this show!
Old Billy Hussein @ 73:
Erroll is racking up the McGrampa points this week.....and it's only Monday.
McLaughlin fits the stereotype of a racist.
Let's face it - people over 60 are weirded out about Obama. It's stupid and racist, and, honestly, I'm just waiting for someone to drop the "n" word on one of these shows. And then they'll spend a week discussing whether it is a good thing for Obama, and how it will help John McCain.
These guys are idiots - they've been wrong about everything for the past 8 years and they still get paid obscene $$ to continue being wrong. You have to watch them purely for the entertainment value.
freepatriot @ 65: