It’s either bull or bull shit, President Barack Obama is familiar with both.
Over the weekend at the Iowa State Fair – long considered a think tank and a positive bastion of democratic sensibilities – a rodeo clown put on an Obama mask and the announcer egged him on. It was, without a doubt, probably kind of funny at the time if you’d had a few jars of beer or whiskey or had happened to watch the band Train, who also performed at the State Fair. It was, too, without a doubt, offensive. A white guy basically put on the mask of a black dude (who happens to be a major historical figure in his own right) and danced around foolishly in front of a few thousand drunk, screaming rednecks. The announcer had a field day, apparently yelling “Obama’s gonna have to just stay there … Obama watch out for those bulls.”
You can see the social fabric unraveling here:
Was it that bad? Was it truly that incredibly, insanely bad?
It’s the fucking Iowa State Fair, people.
While racism is racism is racism and the Obama mask on a rodeo clown was absolutely not the most politically correct move, we’re talking about the Iowa State Fair, and we’re talking about a bunch of rednecks at a rodeo.
Did we on the Left (capital L!) not live through 8 years of the George W. Bush era, and did we not make fun of that guy in the most inopportune ways possible, too? Sure, Bush was WITHOUT A DOUBT one of the stupidest presidents America ever has, thrusting us into two unnecessary wars and trillions of dollars in debt, but did the Left not get classist and weird with his redneck brethren? We spent (actual) years ripping on Bush, Texas, people from the South, and rednecks.
Is a guy in an Obama mask the end of the world?
Probably for the first time on this site, I’m gonna go ahead and agree with Rush Limbaugh on this one, according to a transcript from his most recent show:
“He’s the president of the United States! They get made fun of! They get laughed at all the time! Fun is poked at ‘em. I know this happens to be the first African-American one, but that should not insulate this president from standard, ordinary, everyday treatment, analysis, whatever.”
“You know, you people on the left, who the hell do you think you are? You can’t laugh. You can’t take a joke. You can’t take a punch. You can’t take anything.”
The worst part? He has a point. This was a couple of dudes being shitty and now it’s on the front page of Politico. The worst part about the Left’s outrage over this incident is it gives Republicans and those on the far Right liberty to go ahead and go into actual full on racist shit like saying, and this is Limbaugh again in the same show:
“This is no different than those countries reacting freakishly when there were cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. That is exactly what this is,” Limbaugh said. “C.S. Lewis said the devil can’t stand being made fun of. The devil can’t stand being mocked. … You people on the left, I know you don’t have the capacity for shame, but this is just absolutely — a clown now fearing for his life?”
Great, Left. Now you brought Mohammed into it. Great job.
Next time we get outraged, let’s make it about something worthwhile. Like how the Right keep trying to repeal Obamacare. A few rednecks telling a shitty joke to a bunch of other shitty rednecks is hardly news.
