Obama:. About as Marxist as Ronald Reagan

There was a programme on the radio about various people’s reaction to the election of Barack Obama as President, most of which were very positive, but one guy was outraged. He was outraged at the idea of a black man being in the White House. To comment on that would be bordering on the pointless; that simple bedrock of racism is, by its very nature, immune to intelligent argument. That would be like expecting, after having taught a dog to sit,for it to write an essay about the experience or, perhaps, to go around all his dog friends and teach them how to sit too. But it was the kicker that the guy made to his basic objection that jumped out for me. According to him, not only was it an abomination that Obama is a black man but he’s a Marxist to boot.

Listening to simple, clean-cut racism is something I have almost become numb to, and as an Irishman who has worked extensively in England, I have been at the sharp end of that hateful stick. I have even experienced the classic, ‘no Blacks, Irish or Dogs’, when I was enquiring about a room to rent. That, I am pleased to report, happened only once. And, to be crystal-clear on this, my experience working there was, by a huge margin, positive. Five children and six grandchildren who are all half British except for Lucia who is quarter Irish, quarter Scottish and half Spanish, testifies to this.

Anyway, back to the numbskull – what got me to sit up and pay attention was his augmentation of his gut reaction to Obama being black, but that he was also a Marxist. He presented this like it was ‘the last straw’. Like if he wasn’t a Marxist it would be an abomination he could live with? Well, I’ve got good news for him; Obama is about as Marxist as Barbara Streisand is Republican. In fact Obama, echoing Rush Limbaugh’s obsession with body postures, will bend over backwards to rescue Capitalism. And, who knows, he might even succeed. Of course he will still be black. Now, as this guy’s objection to Obama had two prongs, will the removal of one of them make any difference, and if it doesn’t, what was the point of it?

Here is my guess: besides a pathetic attempt to demonstrate that he had some 'book learning', it was the numbskull’s attempt to show that his naked hatred of black people simply because they are black was a product of something more than that great vacancy inside his head. Unfortunately all he had to rely on to do this with was the self-same great vacancy inside his head, resulting in him using a word he didn’t know the meaning of.

That is beyond, thanks to surprisingly widespread ignorance, that calling someone a Marxist is being pejorative. I’ll bet that this guy wouldn’t know a Marxist if he came up and bit him on the arse. By the same token I’ll bet he doesn’t even know why it has been accepted as pejorative, beyond that it is a word Rush Limbaugh uses to describe people he doesn’t like.

As far as he was concerned it was just a variation on the n-word, rendering it redundant. He could have delivered his point of view with added emphasis by saying, “… not only is he black, he’s not even white.” But that would sound stupid, wouldn’t it. The fact that what he did, actually say doesn’t sound stupid says more about the people who accept it as a sensible, if repugnant, statement than it does about the numbskull who uttered it.

And a large part of the responsibility for this I would lay at the door of the majority of journalists. Perhaps they are just lazy, but the existence of widespread misunderstanding of the very language they use should, one would think, be a cause for concern.

What I’d like to see is something like this:- The setting is a TV studio, a reporter is interviewing a politician. The politician ‘accuses’ his opponent of being a Marxist. At this point the journalist says, “ … before we proceed, could you explain, for the benefit of the viewers, what it means to be a Marxist so that they know what it is you are saying about your opponent beyond that he is a little shit they shouldn’t vote for?” Add into this scenario me as the producer talking into the journalist’s ear. I’d instruct him not to accept a list of other perceived pejoratives as an answer.