Lucky to be Obama

Bob Johnson's at it again and there is no mistaking it this time. He meant just what he said, namely that being black has paid off oodles for Barack Obama's presidential run. Hello.

"What I believe Geraldine Ferraro meant is that if you take a freshman senator from Illinois called `Jerry Smith' and he says I'm going to run for president, would he start off with 90 percent of the black vote?" Johnson said. "And the answer is, probably not."

As a man of media it should come as no surprise that he is comfortable broadcasting his opinions; As an über successful businessman he knows how to stand the heat in the kitchen. Mr Johnson is a billionaire---a self-made man---so, really, he is more than confident in speaking his mind come controversy or high water. In speaking his mind to the Charlotte Observer newspaper Mr Johnson plainly noted one other salient fact: He's black.

"Geraldine Ferraro said it right. The problem is, Geraldine Ferraro is white."

And he's right.

Miss Ferraro was neither condescending, offensive, nor incorrect in observing the novelties of the Democratic contenders---id est race and gender---but the old, white bitch forgot that said observation was coming from the mouth of, well, an old, white bitch. Thus, to juxtapose the demographics of Mr Obama and the famous Suffragist, the words "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept" easily and not wholly unfairly, translated into a pat on the head; a belittling gesture in the black community. A belittling gesture to any one's manhood, really.

Being of the same demographics as the black candidate Mr Johnson won't catch the same hell as Miss Ferraro, at least not from popular media like Diane Sawyer or CNN. The crucial point the former vice presidential nominee missed (and Johnson appreciates) is that it matters a great deal who is doing the pointing about whom. Yes, you better believe, race matters, sex matters, gender matters, along with physical appeal, popularity, money and those other attributes folks lie about not regarding.

Woody Allen gets away with hamming up Jewish mannerisms because he's a funny Jew; Francis Ford Coppola can get away with serializing the Italian mob archetype because he is Italian; Hugh Hefner can get away with sexually objectifying women because he is a playboy; and in like cadence Bob Johnson, black man and founder of BET (Black Entertainment Television), can get away with the brash remark that Mr Obama owes his candidacy to his race.

Now if Miss Ferraro wasn't biased and had gone further to highlight the former First Lady's overriding attributes of being female and the wife of popular former president Bill Clinton, then she would not have come off as sounding racist or anti-Obama. But she neglected to do so and got torched for it.

No one doubts the intangible qualities of Mr Obama. He is intelligent, articulate, compelling and inspiring, educated, professional, upstanding, organized and serious, capable. The content of his character is not scandalous and is certainly above that of our Monkey-and-chief. Neither, however, is the color of his skin invisible.