March 20, 2007
BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist
Check out this quote about Barack Obama: "[He's] exciting. Everyone says he's a rock star, which is one of the most overused phrases these days.... You know what? If you're not [receiving oral sex] after an event, you're not a rock star. But OK, Obama is a rock star. Fine, if that's what it takes. He seems articulate and serious and thoughtful and electable."
What's that?! Someone is using the a-word to describe Obama? Let the semi-outrage and the call for apologies begin!
The quote appears in the current issue of Playboy magazine during an interview with Bill Maher -- who comes across as so articulate in his responses that you wonder if some of his one-liners are scripted.
Did I say articulate? I meant "funny."
It's also funny how nobody seems to be offended by Maher's remarks after the firestorm that greeted Joe Biden's idiotic comments about Obama.
Maybe we just expect Maher to make incendiary remarks.
Maybe it's because Maher's a comedian and political commentator, whereas Biden is a presidential candidate.
Maybe people just aren't reading the Playboy Interview as much as they used to.
Maybe it's because the "articulate" comment doesn't seem as condescending in print as it comes across in a sound bite.
And yet the fact that Maher employed that same term gives more credence to those who have been saying (long before the Biden controversy) that to call a black person "articulate" is to deliver a back-handed compliment.
BY RICHARD ROEPER Sun-Times Columnist
Check out this quote about Barack Obama: "[He's] exciting. Everyone says he's a rock star, which is one of the most overused phrases these days.... You know what? If you're not [receiving oral sex] after an event, you're not a rock star. But OK, Obama is a rock star. Fine, if that's what it takes. He seems articulate and serious and thoughtful and electable."
What's that?! Someone is using the a-word to describe Obama? Let the semi-outrage and the call for apologies begin!
The quote appears in the current issue of Playboy magazine during an interview with Bill Maher -- who comes across as so articulate in his responses that you wonder if some of his one-liners are scripted.
Did I say articulate? I meant "funny."
It's also funny how nobody seems to be offended by Maher's remarks after the firestorm that greeted Joe Biden's idiotic comments about Obama.
Maybe we just expect Maher to make incendiary remarks.
Maybe it's because Maher's a comedian and political commentator, whereas Biden is a presidential candidate.
Maybe people just aren't reading the Playboy Interview as much as they used to.
Maybe it's because the "articulate" comment doesn't seem as condescending in print as it comes across in a sound bite.
And yet the fact that Maher employed that same term gives more credence to those who have been saying (long before the Biden controversy) that to call a black person "articulate" is to deliver a back-handed compliment.
