Obama and the Chocolate City

A Republican vendor was banned from future Texas GOP events the other day because he created a button that read "If Obama is elected will we still call it the White House". Tacky, to be sure, and to some, racist. However, don't just look to the GOP for racially-tinged comments about Obama. Black Hollywood elites contribute their share:

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) - Director Spike Lee, whose movies often cast a sharp eye on U.S. racial politics, predicted a presidential victory for black Democrat Barack Obama that would mark a "new day" for the United States.

"It's going to be before Obama, 'B.B.,' and after Obama -- 'A.B.' -- and some folks need to get used to this," Lee said. "And I'm going to be at the inauguration -- getting my hotel reservation now." ...

Lee said that like Katrina in 2005, the levee breaches now flooding the Upper Midwest were a sign of misplaced priorities by the national government. "That's going to change, though," he said. "We need a real Chocolate City," an apparent reference to the prospect of the United States under Obama, who would be the first U.S. black president if elected in November.

The term "Chocolate City" has been used affectionately by African-Americans to refer to Washington and other predominantly black cities, and was the title of a 1975 album by the funk band Parliament. Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was criticized for racial divisiveness after Katrina for urging residents to rebuild a "chocolate New Orleans."

A couple of things. First, Obama has to win. We all remember what happened to the last "inevitible" candidate, so if I were Lee and his Hollywood freaks, I wouldn't start the party quite yet.

Secondly, anyone who has ever visited Washington knows that one more black guy is not exactly going to change the racial mix there. It's already chocolate. It's also largely disfunctional, just like New Orleans, the other chocolate city. The country doesn't need any more of that.