Quote:
Originally Posted by Ayatollahgondola
I think the picture is no big deal, but to do that I had to remind myself that race is irrelevant. lots of presidents have been characterized in demeaning manners, and none of them ever had race as a shield. He's a public figure, and this photo is just another lampoon. If we start extending him special considerations because of his color/race, we might as well throw in the towel with the illegals right now.
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Oh, please.
The entire gist/humor behind the picture is that the President is in a subservient position to Sarah Palin. Shoe shining (whether you consider it honorable work/honest labor or not) is a profession that was almost completely occupied by uneducated blacks. That picture is a jab at his race. The "humor" just happens to work because he's black. If we had an Asian president, the same thing could be conveyed by putting that person in a Chinese laundry situation or dressing him as
Hop Sing from
Bonanza. If he was Latino it could be a cartoon with the President using a leaf blower or mopping a floor. With Clinton or Jimmy Carter it could've been conveyed by having them lounging around a trailer/mobile home park with a can of beer in hand.
That cleaning, gardening, ironing shirts and shining shoes are respectable ways to turn a buck is irrelevant. They are positions of subservience accurately associated with members of certain ethnic/racial groups. The shoe shining thing wouldn't work with Bush or Clinton b/c shoe shining isn't associated with whites.
To pretend that these stereotypes don't exist is folly. And to disapprove of a jibe with a racial overtone to it is hardly throwing the borders wide open.
Obama is a bad president because he's bankrupting us. He's not a bad president because he's black.