Barack Obama has given all liberals some pause to consider his personal psychology. I've joked often that he's such a bad negotiator that I would never want him to help me buy a car, because I'd end up paying twice Blue Book value just so everyone could call the deal a "win." And while it's tempting to assume some sort of malevolence or corporatist attitude on the part of Obama, I genuinely think it's something much more deep-seated in Obama's psyche. As the product of a mixed race union at a time when miscegenation was still illegal in some states, raised by white grandparents in the Kansas heartland, with an exotic name and a Muslim Kenyan absent father, Barack Obama literally defines the term "Other."

It is not farfetched to believe that Barack Obama has spent pretty much his entire 50 years trying to make people who find him fearful comfortable. Even his white grandmother admitted to being nervous if an African American male approached her, an attitude that could not help but affect him in his impressionable years. Add to that someone who appears constitutionally conflict-averse (his pre-politician career as a community organizer was to get people to work together, not fight it out), and you have the makings of a person ill-suited for the divisive environment of Washington and the full-contact political battles that have to be fought.

And we've seen that tendency manifest itself as a politician who is always willing to bend over backwards to those who will not trust him, whether from their own innate racism or from their own personal agenda. There's no question that racism plays a much greater role than liberal white America may have wanted to acknowledge, although our minority friends and colleagues would probably say "duh!". One little moment of expressed irritation will give rise to literally hundreds of thousands of reports in the media and right wing blogs/publications/foundations of the angry black man. So rather than play to those disposed to give him the benefit of the doubt, Obama rather tries to win over those who will never do so.

Subbing for the vacationing Ed Schultz, guest host Michael Eric Dyson speaks to this inherent tension with Real Time host Bill Maher, who exhorts Obama to find his spine and be an unapologetic liberal Democrat instead of the watered-down Republican he's being. Whether he can give up the ghost of trying to be liked by those who have no incentive to like him remains to be seen, but Maher's assessment that this path may lead to Obama's loss in the 2012 election is apt.

On a related note, and well worth your time, Peter Daou -- no stranger to the looking glass world of DC politics -- looks at How the Democratic establishment shunned the left, spawned the Tea Party and moved America right.

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It's hard to argue with rock solid logic that GOP strategist Karen Hanretty offers up on The Ed Show. In a discussion of whether providing health care to all citizens is a moral imperative, Hanretty informs us that Jesus would probably not like health care reform because he would avoid the 1000 pages of bill Congress has drafted, just as he avoided the Pharisees.

SCHULTZ: Karen, where is the Christian leaders (sic) in this country, the four that I named at the top of this show tonight. They’ve been very silent on the moral obligation to cover every American. This is a big play, what do you think?

HANRETTY: Well, I think it’s interesting. You know, you were saying earlier if Christ came back, if this was the Second Coming, what would He do? And you know, we know when Christ walked the Earth he was very careful not to let the Pharisees entrap him in legalistic disputes. And I think that would be the case with this 1,000 page health care bill. I think that, you know, the Christian community, we have an obligation to care for the poor, and for children, orphans and widows, and that is our commandment. I think a lot of churches do that. I’m not sure there’s something in the Bible that talks about should you have a single health care payer program, you know, what are the details…

So the commandment to take care of others, that goes out the window if you have to trudge through several hundred pages of writing? I'm not sure I like the "Jesus as a slacker" motif, but I have one way to simplify it: "Medicare for all". I think even your slacker Jesus could manage to read three words, Karen.

But honestly, it was the next exchange that made me cringe at what laughingstocks we must be to the rest of the world: the discussion of health care reform during End Times.

HANRETTY: I think it’s very…I think it’s very…quite frankly, I think you really pushed the limits, Ed, when you say that if Christ came to Earth, he would encourage us to support this health care bill.

SCHULTZ: We’re out of time with this, but I want to say that I’m not pushing the limits on this, because if Jesus were to come back and have the Second Coming, while we’re on the face of the Earth, I don’t think he’d be denying care to anybody.

HANRETTY: You think in the middle of the Rapture, in the middle of the Rapture, he’d be taking a health care survey? You’re insane! I love that. That’s crazy.

Yeah, thinking that Jesus would care for the least of us on this planet, that's crazy, but believing in a Rapture overseen by a slacker Jesus, that's totally normal.

Oy.

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The attacks on Sonia Sotomayor are coming in like a tidal wave by the extreme right, but former Rep. Tom Tancredo, one of the harshest critics of the Latino community ever to run for president, actually called her a racist. This is the man who boycotted the Univision debate and then attacked their entire audience.

On The Ed Show today, Mike Allen of The Politico was pretty on point saying that she's not anyone that the right could attack and wouldn't investigate her supposed racism, but Tancredo uses the already debunked and discredited talking point about Latino lady judges being smarter than the Tancredo- looking judges of the world.

(rough transcript)

Tancredo: Unfortunately for her and fortunately for us there are plenty of things that we've even talked about her already. I'm telling you, she appears to be a racist. She said things that are racist in any other context...

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Tancredo: You can still be a racist and have all those things in your background. You can be a racist and have all that stuff in your background.

Ed: How aggressive do you want the Republicans to be on the judiciary committee?

Tancredo: I think there's plenty of stuff that they can use and should. They should do to her what the Democrats did to Bork.

Ed: Like what?

Tancredo: I would continually bring up this quote of hers, I'd like her to explain that. It is incredible to me. There is no one else I can think of who could possibly have said the kind of things she said, If they are reported accurately about the benefits of being a brown women as opposed to a white man and interpreting the law and nobody can look at that and say that was not a racist, sexist statement that would disqualify anybody else...She is a Hispanic woman and we can't say anything like this..

His form of racism is an affront to all decency. As I've said before, I do not speak Italian because of the racism my grandparents endured when they came to America. He's Italian and he should be ashamed of himself. Why is this man on TV talking about race in America? What does he have to add? Here's one of Tancredo's racist campaign ads.

Tancredo's racism is such that he's the darling of the Malkin wing of the GOP. He's a man who even called Miami a "Third World country.”

I'm not kidding. And let's not forget his "bombing Mecca," statements either.

This isn't the pot calling the kettle black. It's the pot calling the tablecloth black.

Keith Olbermann just announced on Countdown that Ed Schultz has a new show on MSNBC. It starts Monday at 6PM EST and it's called "The Ed Show"

UPDATE: Here's some of the press release.

Veteran talk radio host Ed Schultz joins MSNBC as host of "The Ed Show," premiering on Monday, April 6. "The Ed Show" will air weekdays, 6-7 p.m. ET. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President, MSNBC.

"I am thrilled to have Ed kicking-off our primetime lineup," said Griffin. "Ed's proven that he can connect with Americans and will be a perfect compliment to Chris, Keith, and Rachel. He's already made his mark on radio and I'm excited to see what he'll do with the 6 p.m. hour."

"I'm excited to have this opportunity with MSNBC," said Schultz. "I look forward to having a day to day discussion with fellow Americans on issues that really matter to all of us."

David Shuster, currently hosting "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" at 6 p.m. ET on MSNBC, will join Tamron Hall as host of a new 3-5 p.m. ET program on MSNBC. Shuster will also continue to anchor breaking news coverage during the day and serve as a regular substitute anchor for "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." Norah O'Donnell's hour will move to the morning. The exact hour will be announced at a later date.

It's good to see that David Shuster will still be part of their lineup.