I love this. President Bush spoke about the Biden/Obama dust-up on Fox News and, well, I’ll let the Chicago Tribune explain (via ThinkProgress):
Well-spoken black people hate it when white people call them “articulate.” It’s the modern-day version of what white people used to say back in the day when they thought that by saying “He’s a credit to his race” they were saying something that a black person would welcome hearing.
Those dated words, like Biden’s comments, were patronizing at the very least. And they also appeared to carry some pretty negative assumptions about the majority of the race.
Many Americans know this because (1) they aren’t stupid, and (2) they’ve seen the famous stand up routine by Chris Rock where Rock says that anytime white people see an intelligent black person they always say, “He’s so well-spoken! He speaks so well!” which is the most patronizing compliment perhaps of all time. Rock used the example of Colin Powell, but this occurs with athletes all the time. Anytime a black athlete gives a post-game interview without saying “um” fifteen times, moms across America say, “Well, he seemed like a nice young man. Very well-spoken.”
Anyway, here’s the point. Bush on Obama yesterday: “He’s an attractive guy. He’s articulate. I’ve been impressed with him when I’ve seen him in person.”
You know, George, usually when a man of any color earns his way into multiple Ivy League schools and gets elected to the Senate, he’s able to speak without sounding like a dummy. But I suppose you wouldn’t know about any part of that.
