Maher: "Obama Is the Jackie Robinson of Politics" [VIDEO]

Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet at 12:03 PM on March 20, 2008.

Bill Maher, who admittedly is often an arrogant jackass, does makes some excellent observations about the Democrats, Obama, McCain, race and the War in Iraq in this interview with Chris Matthews. Maher compares Obama to Jackie Robinson, because just like Robinson was when he broke the color barrier in baseball, Obama is held up to such a higher standard. He must appear flawless in a way that no white candidate would be expected to be. Would Obama's experience or patriotism be as obsessively attacked as it is if he weren't Black? I don't think so.

He also says what I think a lot of progressives are afraid of--"that we're one terrorist attack away from John McCain rising in the polls by ten points" because he's perceived as "tougher". But Maher correctly states that "McCain is not the toughest on Iraq, he's the dumbest."

I agree most with Maher when says while he loved Obama's speech on race, he's embarrassed that he needed to make it. Why are White Americans always "surprised" to learn that racism still exists in America? Chris Matthews is bizarre throughout the segment, completely losing it and giggling uncontrollably when he brings up the O'Reilly/Harlem restaurant incident. At least Maher gets a chance to say "corporations have taken over America" on a network owned by GE. Always nice to see. Check out the video to your right for more.

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Tagged as: iraq, race, o'reilly, racism, obama, maher, mccain, matthews, robinson

Adam Howard is the editor of PEEK.