Governor Paterson: “Once You Go Black, You Don’t Go Back.”
by Matt at Dec 8th, 2008
While I understand the context I question the appropriateness this comment.
New York Gov. David Paterson is getting rave reviews as one of the Gridiron Dinner speakers over the weekend.
The Gridiron dinner is an off-the-record dinner with journos and pols who sing songs, do skits and make fun of each other in the great wide open.
Paterson’s speech was certainly no exception. Even though he became governor of New York in quite a surprising fashion, it’s not the governor title that he wants, apparently. Paterson’s real goal, he said, is to follow in Barack Obama’s footsteps and be President of the United States, because: “Once you go black, you don’t go back.”
Any politician, regardless of his or her party, ought to be judged on their record, not on their race. If Comrade Obama fails miserably, it will be a reflection of his incompetence – not his race. I find it insulting that Paterson, even as a joke, implied that the performance of one politician reflects that of another solely on racial
Now, some might say I am overreacting, but let’s say that Comrade Obama is defeated in four years by a White Republican. And let’s say that Republican, at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner joked “I guess once you go black you can go back.”
Think about it.
I guess he would get beaten by a Fascist white guy!!