Malcolm X once warned African Americans that so-called liberal white allies can be more dangerous and harbor even more racist and stereotypical opinions of black people than their right-winged, red-necked counterparts. Bill Maher is exhibit No. 1.
The creator and host of the popular “Real Time with Bill Maher” ripped President Obama once again, using traditional stereotypes that blacks try to separate themselves from to openly question Obama’s manhood on national television — again — by calling him a “wuss.”
“I thought, when we elected the first black president, as a comedian, I thought two years in, I’d be making jokes about what a gangsta he was, you know?” Maher said. Instead, Maher said we’ve got “President Wayne Brady.”
Gangsta? Bill Maher wants a president of the United States — and the leader of the free world — to be “gangsta?”
This repulsive statement is pathetic because Maher was serious when he said it. It also shows that Maher paid little attention during the presidential campaign. Obama’s even-keeled disposition during his two years in the White House corresponds with his demeanor during the campaign — even his entire political career for that matter. What, did Maher think that Obama was going to flip the script once he closed the door behind him to the Oval Office and start swinging on his enemies? Did he also expect Obama to floss and gold grill and have his pants sagging exposing his underwear?!
Lost in the translation is the fact that Maher raised legitimate concerns about Obama’s forcefulness — or apparent lack thereof — particularly when it comes to bucking back against the Republican onslaught. On CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” he expressed consternation with Obama’s timidity in putting forth the Democratic agenda.
“For him to be talking about compromising with the Republicans on the Bush tax cuts, where — where are they going to draw a line in the sand? When are they going to remember who they are?”
Problem is, I agree with Maher when he says Democrats get punked too often. Not since former presidential candidate, the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, has a Democrat shown the willingness and ability to bring the fight to the Republican Party.
“I’m so disappointed,” Maher said. “And I still like him and still think there’s hope he could get it yet, but I’m so disappointed that he just seems to be another in a long line of Democrats that come across as wimpy and wussy … and of not standing up for what they believe in enough.”
If Maher had just left his criticism at that, this would have been cool. But remember, Maher infuriated some blacks when he stated how a “real black president” should have handled the Gulf of Mexico oil spill earlier this year.
“I thought when we elected a black president, we were going to get a black president. You know, this [oil spill] is where I want a real black president. I want him in a meeting with the BP CEOs, you know, where he lifts up his shirt where you can see the gun in his pants [and says] — ‘we’ve got a motherf—ing problem here?’ Shoot somebody in the foot,” Maher said.
Maher should know full well that if Obama was really gangsta, he never would have been elected. The nation’s white electorate would never have voted for a black man who modeled Tupac Shakur or Malcolm X — philosophically speaking — to lead them. Never. –terry shropshire
