DeNeen L. Brown, Washington Post
- In talking about the delicate issue of skin color and dialect, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) raised a question: Why is it worse when a white person makes a comment like that than when a black person says the same thing?
That question also applies to the remarks of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who, in the February issue of Esquire, says he is “blacker” than President Obama. Blagojevich explains that he shined shoes and his father ran a laundromat in a black community.
Blagojevich’s comments sound as though they could be a punch line in a routine by a black comedian. And yet they set off a storm of outrage and a stream of apologies. “What I said was stupid, stupid, stupid,” Blagojevich told reporters earlier this week. “Obviously, I’m not blacker than President Obama.”
