Why would it surprise him that a black man speaks non-ebonics (“white”)? What is his experience with blacks that he’d find it remarkable that Barry speaks non-negro? Also, where is Reid coming from that Barry being “light skinned” improves his viability as a Presidential candidate?

(I’ll bet there are tons of ‘redneck teabagging racists’ who’d love to see Allen West become more prominent on the national scene. West is not “light skinned” and libertarians and conservatives could care less).

So, it isn’t exactly what Reid said — statements that are objectively true — but why he felt the need to articulate it. And the same can be said for Biden’s comments about Indians (Dunkin Donuts) and his comment about Obama (well spoken, clean, etc.). I’d also reference Barbara Boxer’s encounter with the Chamber of Commerce gentleman.

Not racist? Fine. But there should be a more specific word for the soft condescension of the American left.

The whole obsession with race reminds me of the famous play Showboat.
The sheriff is coming to arrest Steven Baker and Julie LaVerne for miscegenation and Steven Baker takes a knife, cuts Julie’s finger, and drinks some of her blood. When the sheriff arrives to arrest them, Baker says that he has Negro blood in him and everyone swears to it. The sheriff turns to this old hand, Windy McClain, whom he trusts and Windy says “I’m tellin’ you, that thar’ white man’s got Negro blood in ‘im”.

Naturally, Steven and Julie have to leave the Showboat because they can’t have black and white actors on the same stage together. Meanwhile, Magnolia Hawks does a number in blackface on the very same Showboat.

All of which is to show the evolution of “political correctness” about race from one nonsensical idea to another. In the 1951 version of Showboat, it was too politically incorrect to cast Lena Horne in the role of a sexy light skinned “black” singer (Julie).

Maybe I’m cynical but the novelty of Obama seems to have worn rather thin.