Racist Rush?

I can't, with confidence, go that far, but Rush Limbaugh is definitely a hell spawn sent here to do the bidding of dark and sinister forces. I was flipping channels last night and happened upon MSNBC's Keith Olbermann (a pretty angry dude himself) railing against Limbaugh's most recently spewed refuse concerning comment's Obama made about the Constitution.

Here's the skinny. On Monday Limbaugh made the following comments while broadcasting that drivel we loosely associate with radio programming:

"Obama, ladies and gentlemen, calls himself a constitutional professor or a constitutional scholar. In truth, Barack Obama was an anti-constitutional professor. He studied the Constitution, and he flatly rejected it. He doesn't like the Constitution, he thinks it is flawed, and now I understand why he was so reluctant to wear the American flag lapel pin. Why would he?" Limbaugh later added, "I don't see how he can take the oath of office" because "[h]e has rejected the Constitution."

Geez, just reading that is getting me riled up. Deep breaths... OK, Limbaugh was referring to an interview Obama gave in 2001 on Chicago public radio. Here's the excerpt that Limbaugh played on his show:

OBAMA [audio clip]: I think we can say that the Constitution reflected a enormous blind spot in this culture that carries on until this day, and that the framers had that same blind spot. I don't think the two views are contradictory to say that it was a remarkable political document that paved the way for where we are now, and to say that it also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.

LIMBAUGH: That's not even true. Even if you refuse to call it a fundamental flaw -- just remove the word fundamental -- he is saying, seven years ago, this country has made no progress whatsoever on the official status of black citizens going back to the days of the founding. That simply is not true. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died. The Constitution was a document set up to fix itself, to allow itself to be repaired in the area of individual liberty, and it has been far more than anybody would have ever dreamed back in the days of the founding.

Well, Rusho lays out quite the convincing argument: we're about to elect a hate-mongering, anti-Israel, socialist, communist, domestic terrorist sympathizer who hates the Constitution and hates Americans...but wait. Is it possible there's a little more to the story here? Of course.

What "He-who-must-not-be-named" fails to mention is that the topic of the radio program was "Slavery and the Constitution" and Obama was talking about the founding fathers' failure to right the wrongs of slavery!

---More after the jump---

Here's the full excerpt (is that an oximoron?) from Obama's interview:

OBAMA: The original Constitution, as well as -- as well as the Civil War amendments, but I think it is an imperfect document, and I think it is a document that reflects some deep flaws in American culture -- the colonial culture nascent at that time. African-Americans were not -- first of all, they weren't African-Americans. The Africans at the time were not considered as part of the polity that was of concern to the framers. I think that, as [program co-panelist] Richard [John] said, it was a nagging problem in the same way that, these days, we might think of environmental issues or some other problem that, where you have to balance, you know, cost-benefits, as opposed to seeing it as a moral problem involving persons of moral worth. AND, IN THAT SENSE, I think we can say that the Constitution reflected a enormous blind spot in this culture that carries on until this day, and that the framers had that same blind spot. I don't think the two views are contradictory to say that it was a remarkable political document that paved the way for where we are now, and to say that it also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day. [emphasis added]

Dear God give me strength! Where in the hell does Rush Limbaugh get off making the inflammatory and outrageous claim that Obama is anti-Constitution? For the love of all that is good and sensible, at least have the decency to pick a clip that isn't so obviously reasonable!! And yes, racism is still a fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day, such that it's taken over 200 years to get to the point that a black person (or, as those who would like to downplay the significance point out, a half black person) may actually have a shot at the White House.

This reminds me of the other "American pride" issue that has continued to come up: Michelle Obama's statement that, for the first time in her adult life, she was really proud of America. Conservatives and McCain supporters jumped all over that statement, claiming that there was never a time when they have not been proud of America. Give me a freakin' break! I can think of a couple incidents in American history of which we, as American citizens, should NOT be proud: treatment of Native Americans, slavery/segregation, oppression of women, Japanese internment... and I'm just picking the ones I remember from 7th grade social studies. Frankly, if you're not a "rich", white male America has pretty much sucked for you at one time or another. So yes, Rush and the rest of you "true patriots", the Constitution was a flawed document, Americans are flawed people, and America is a jacked-up country - but all three are also the greatest in the world.

And if that juxtaposition makes your heads explode, all the better.