Hate for the Holidays

In case anyone doubts that some Republican leaders are racists, Chip Saltsman, a candidate to chair the Republican National Committee, has clarified things a bit by sending a Christmas gift to committee members that includes a music CD with lyrics from a song called "Barack the Magic Negro," which was first played on Rush Limbaugh's right-wing radio show. The song, performed by conservative satirist Paul Shanklin, features Shanklin doing an impression of black Al Sharpton and mocks Barack Obama along with other black figures including Snoop Dogg and Louis Farrakhan. The song is part of a compilation of 41 similar conservative songs titled "We Hate the USA." Other selections include "The Star Spanglish Banner," an anti-immigration tune that begins, "José can you see..." Cultural critic David Ehrenstein, who was the original inspiration for "Barack the Magic Negro" by writing a column with that title in 2007, is gay and of partly African-American descent. He responded to the controversy over Saltsman's hateful holiday gift by pointing out that he was critizing Obama (for pandering to anti-gay Christians, among other things) even before it became fashionable for conservatives to do so.