ask obama to explain to us (us being the unenlightened crowd) what a 'typical white person' is.
wouldn't that be rather like waiting for a plumber to explain to you what a typical carpenter is? Just kidding. Actually, Obama is pretty well positioned to make the comment.
But if I want somebody to explain what a typical white people is, then I ask a typical white people. Take me, for instance, I'm a fairly typical white people. My dick is medium-sized, at best. I've never ordered grits. I don't go to church. And the few times I did go to church, I saw people crossing themselves and genuflecting and kneeling to pray, but I didn't see them singing like they mean it, or swaying to and fro like they felt anything. And when I fancy a golden carbonated alcoholic beverage, I go for ale or lager, as opposed to Malt Liquor. And I have a full-time job. So I'd say I qualify as a typical white person.
Now, a typical white person doesn't usually realize he or she is a typical white person, unless of course he or she lives in Detroit or Mississippi or Washington, DC. If you have lived in any of those places, then you have no doubt been surrounded by folks who are neither white nor, in your probable estimation, typical. In that case you may come to get an inkling of the fact that you're white. But if you're in Iowa or Connecticut or Wyoming, chances are that you forget you're white, and probably typically so. You remember you're a white person if you have a basis of comparison. For example, you might only remember that you're typically white because you live among non-white people. Since I live with non-white people--namely one-and-a-half chinese people--I am reminded of what typical white people (me) are like. I also have the distinct pleasure of being reminded daily of what typical chinese people are like. Don't get me started. Ah, but that's another story.
Anyway, Obama may be one of those rare individuals who can actually know what typical white people and typical non-white people are like by virtue of his intimacy with both typical white people and typical non-white people. It's a rare experience, I'm sure. Even in the USA, where it's probably not as rare as it would be outside the USA, it's still a rare experience.
So the now-infamous quote in question is "The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person who, uh, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know there's a reaction that's been been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way and that's just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through it..."
Seems reasonable on some level. Obviously he has never lived with folks from the far east, as I can assure you that every East Asian I have ever known--and I've known my share--are much quicker to cross the street upon approaching a negro than most of the white folks I know. In fact, I'm probably guilty of saying it's a "typical asian" reaction to cross the street when a black person approaches. But I'm also cognizant of the fact that it is equally "typically asian" not to think that this is a bad idea. Point out to a chinese person that he or she crosses the street when a black man approaches, and he or she will look at you as if you're daft. As if to say, "of course I cross the street when a black man approaches? don't you? if not, then you're the moron. not me." All of this is true, Walter. But as a white man--dare I say "typical white man"--you have somehow been trained to think, "Um, this huge n with coming at me looks scary. But if I cross the street I'll either look like a pussy or a bigot. So I'm not going to cross the street. I'd rather be a dead but honorable egalitarian than a living pussy or bigot." So you don't cross the street. That, in and of itself, harms no one except possibly you. But you seem to take it up a notch. As if you want to be prototypically white. So you go out and buy a nice computer, get yourself a high-speed internet connection, become a member of a political chat-room, and then demand that other white people engage in your groupthink and start hounding the black candidate for not being "sensitive" enough.
Seriously walter, how white is that? And you really think you need to ask Barack what a typical white person is?
