Exciting New Horizons In Obama Derangement Syndrome

Not real sure what's worse here, that Shelby Steele of the WSJ thinks you're stupid enough to believe that Obama's race is an advantage in politics, or that race is basically the only possible explanation as to why the entire GOP field is losing against him in the polls...and that makes you all racists, you know.

The point is that anyone who runs against Mr. Obama will be seen through the filter of this racial impressionism, in which white skin is redundant and dark skin is fresh and exceptional. This is the new cultural charisma that the president has introduced into American politics.

Today this charisma is not as strong for Mr. Obama. The mere man and the actual president has not lived up to his billing as a historical breakthrough. Still, the Republican field is framed and—as the polls show—diminished by his mere presence in office, which makes America the most socially evolved nation in the world. Moreover, the mainstream media coddle Mr. Obama—the man—out of its identification with his exceptionalism.

Conversely, the media hold the president's exceptionalism against Republicans. Here is Barack Obama, evidence of a new and progressive America. Here are the Republicans, a cast of largely white males, looking peculiarly unevolved. Add to this the Republicans' quite laudable focus on deficit reduction and spending cuts, and they can be made to look like a gaggle of scolding accountants.

How can the GOP combat the president's cultural charisma? It will have to make vivid the yawning gulf between Obama the flattering icon and Obama the confused and often overwhelmed president. Applaud the exceptionalism he represents, but deny him the right to ride on it as a kind of affirmative action.

A president who is both Democratic and black effectively gives the infamous race card to the entire left: Attack our president and you are a racist. To thwart this, Republicans will have to break through the barrier of political correctness. 

Yes folks, that's right.Shelby Steele is making the argument that the GOP cannot afford to look like a bunch of racists going into 2012, and that the only way they can win is to not let that clearly inferior buffoon of a negro who only got elected because he's black play the race card on Republicans.

It really is eye-opening, how much they truly, truly despise President Obama.