Link: Chicagoist: Barack the Magic Negro.
When he first ran for Senate in Illinois, few outside of his district had heard of him, a problem quickly solved when it became apparent that, at least politically, he was authentically and ideologically aligned with the issues that mattered to many Illinois voters. But his presidential candidacy has been stuck in the realm of uniting-a-divided-nation rhetoric, wrapped up in the story of a black man that doesn't threaten social norms, and on whom many liberals can pin their hopes. Like John Coffey in Stephen King's The Green Mile, Barack Obama is exactly the kind of black man that many white liberals can agree on — selfless and kind, carrying the burdens of a racially charged past while allowing white America to like blacks individually, while eschewing the more difficult challenge of understanding and accepting black culture
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