As IF Times

link [VIDEO] Oprah Winfrey tells BBC many Americans hate Obama because he’s BLACK » The Right Scoop –.

Let’s investigate Oprah’s claim.  If there was that much hatred towards Obama because he’s black, how did he get elected not once, but twice?  Casting aside conspiracy theories of vote rigging on the last election,  the United States is still statistically a white nation though that is changing rapidly.  Even though as a bloc, Blacks voted overwhelmingly in the neighborhood of 90% for Obama, the president could not have won without the support of the larger community.  Of course the possibility exists that the general population voted for the white half of Obama.  In that case, I suppose it could be racism.

It’s a pretty tired and suspect argument to use racism as the rationale for someone’s unpopularity.  In fact, to do so is in itself racist.  It’s like an automatic get out of jail free card for any shortcomings in personal character.  If the United States were a racist nation, how is it possible that some of the most culturally influential and successful people in entertainment and music (even those of truly dubious talent) and sports as well as the top rungs of the political system including the President and Attorney General are of  black heritage?

The most recent ‘shocking’ headlines involving race centered around the locker room activities of the Miami Dolphins.  Apparently, Jonathan Martin, a  player whom is half black, was ‘harassed’ by the white player, Richie Incognito.  When it was revealed that the harassment included racial slurs, it became national news as the plain folk were apparently aghast at the rawness of the exchanges between the two players.  Mr. Martin could withstand the physical punishment of gangs of 300 pound men beating him up on the football field, but name calling was too much to bear, especially racially tinged name calling.  Well I guess that dispels the old ‘sticks and stones’ theory.

There seems to be a common theme here.  If you are black, your character is unassailable.  As the old M.C. Hammer lyrics state, “you can’t touch that”.  If you are not completely black, like Obama, like Jonathan Martin, you are fair game for ridicule and scorn, because you are essentially half white.  It wasn’t too long ago that the previous White House incumbent, George W. Bush was the target of merciless and vile attacks on his character, his appearance, his intelligence and even his laugh.

Oprah “Whine-frey” has it wrong.  People likely disparage the President because he’s half white, not because he’s black.  The lying, incompetence and lack of any real talent outside of reading must be from his white side.  No real black person would have to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune as the old verse goes.  They would never dare to disparage a black person.

link Rob Ford crack scandal: What’s behind mayor’s ‘mind-boggling’ PR strategy? – Canada – CBC News.

Finally, something interesting happening in Canadian politics.  Rob Ford’s personal shortcomings and foilbles have even managed to make the headlines of all of the U.S. news outlets.  As is the case south of the 49th parallel, when a contentious issue comes to the fore, an easy shortcut to determine which side is the wrong side is to observe which side the ‘enlightened’ media favors.

In this case, the CBC and Toronto Star, long time vocal and strident critics of Ford’s are demanding that he step down.  Hmm.  On the one hand, a rough hewn, plain talking, crack smoking mayor and on the other, the notoriously left leaning CBC and Toronto Star.  Tough one.

Given that Mr. Ford has publicly admitted his shortcomings and has reduced the likelihood of further embarrassment to himself, (unless they find small boys chained in his basement), the CBC and Star are out of bullets.  What surely galls these two media sources the most is that Ford’s approval rating among voters has apparently gone up since his outing of being a crackhead!  When past Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was revealed to have smoked pot years ago, there wasn’t a clamor by the CBC for his resignation.  Indeed, his progeny, the Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has admitted the same, but no finger wagging there either.

Thus far, the voters are shrugging off this explosive revelation about Ford, because despite this ugly blotch on his character, he is still seen as the guy that is working on their behalf. Unlike voters in other parts, people in the Toronto region were tired of the corruption and ineptitude in their city before Ford was elected.  Ford’s charm for the people is that he appears to be one of them, not like the weather vane headed weasels that  are typically offered in politics.  He’s like a skinnier, blond, crack smoking Chris Christie, the recently re-elected New Jersey Governor.  They love him in those parts too.  Both of them are plain speaking, take no guff personalities who are obviously not vegetarians, the exact opposite of the effeminate, placating pols that populate public offices today.

You know that the quality of politicians has reached a low ebb when a character like Ford, with considerable and obvious warts, is still embraced by the electorate.  It may be that  people are just fed up with the usual cast of disingenuous ideologues that typically are in office.  The CBC and Toronto Star may feel that Ford’s behaviour is an affront to the dignity and credibility of Canadians.  On that score, they’re even.