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June 12, 2008 10:39

Fox News's Obama "Baby Mama" Drama

Posted by James Poniewozik | Comments (33) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

So yesterday afternoon, Fox News ran a segment about criticism of Michelle Obama captioned with the bottom-of-the-screen chyron, "OUTRAGED LIBERALS: STOP PICKING ON OBAMA'S BABY MAMA!" No, seriously, they did.

Is there an emoticon for "Jaw hitting the floor in amazement"? I don't know how to make one, so I'll have to risk being called an "outraged liberal" by commenting on this one.

"Baby mama," for those of you who don't go to Tina Fey movies, is a slang term generally used to refer to the unmarried mother of one's child. Barack and Michelle Obama, you may have heard, are a married couple. Now it's true that, in some instances, baby mama and baby daddy have occasionally been applied to married parents, as Julia Turner points out in a Slate history of the terms, but those are still the exceptions. Given that, and given that the term was popularized as African American hip-hop slang (having originated in Jamaican English), you might think someone would have decided that was a mildly questionable way to refer to the possible next First Lady.

Assuming, of course, that the offensiveness was not exactly the point.

Now, throughout the primary season, through Fox's wallpapering of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's "God damn America" clip and so forth, I've resisted the charge that Fox is out and out race-baiting Obama. It's a heavy accusation for one thing, and I don't like to get into the mind-reading business. It's possible, I suppose, that you can attribute this incident to the general, lame fascination in both the MSM and blogs with the fact that "Obama" rhymes with "mama." (To which fascination, the title of this post attests, Tuned In itself is not immune.)

Race baiting, actually, may be the kinder accusation to throw at Fox, because the alternative is that it's simply laughably clueless and out of touch for an organization whose job involves, like, knowing things. Take last week's flare-up after Barack and Michelle, just before his speech in St. Paul the night he cinched the Democratic nomination, exchanged a fist bump. Or, as Fox anchor E.D. Hill referred to it, a possible "terrorist fist jab."

I mean, good God—I've probably never exchanged a fist bump with anyone in my life, and I know the gesture well enough not to dive for cover from a possible suicide bomb when I see it. The terrorist comment—for which Hill later apologized—could be part of some deliberate strategy to use hip-hop-associate gestures and language brand Obama as "other" in the public mind. It could be the unintended product of a mindset that simply sees Obama as other. It could be coincidence. It could be none of the above. [Update: A Fox exec tells Politico's Michael Calderone the caption exemplified "poor judgment."]

But however you slice it, it's simply clueless—clueless not just about the meaning of the cultural symbols, but clueless about where and what America is right now. (And clueless in a way that is probably as much generational as racial.) Things like the fist bump, or even Obama's use of the "brush the dirt off your shoulder" move, are widely mainstreamed in America now, culturally and racially. (To repeat: Baby Mama was a Tina Fey movie.)

Are there people out there who can be persuaded that a fist bump is some kind of crazed, Hamas-meets-Stokely-Carmichael extremist gesture? Sure, I guess. But I suspect those same people already believe that Obama is a secret Muslim who refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance and has a collection of American flag handkerchiefs, or whatever the latest e-mail slur is.

But to most of the rest of us who actually live in culturally cross-pollinated America—even non-Obama voters—I suspect all the fist-bump and baby-mama drama simply reinforces the perception that Obama's most vitriolic critics are out of touch and forces of the past. (A perception that is not exactly hostile to the Obama campaign's change theme.)

Regardless, this should be an interesting election for these pop-culture flare-ups. And it may just end up showing that the real "others" in America are the people who get weirded out by fist bumps.

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Reader Comments (33)

Mike:

Hahahaha. I love Fox News, always good for a chuckle. I don't identify myself as left/right etc. (although full disclosure i plan on voting for Obama) So I don't really have a problem with Fox havin a conservative tilt. But this is why they're not a legitimate news organization, not because they're clearly biased, but because they would actually use the phrase "Baby's Mama."

I hope Obama takes a different track on this one, he shouldn't make them apologize to him and his wife, but ask them to apologize to every Baby's Mama out there for intimating that its a negative term.

Posted by Mike | June 12, 2008 11:11 AM

mister_hand:

The fist bump was first popularized by Frozone in the Incredibles.

This was pointed out to me by my four-year-old son, who--of course--hates America.

Posted by mister_hand | June 12, 2008 11:25 AM

CMR:

It was a stupid and silly way to describe Mrs. Obama. On the other hand, she has introduced Barback Obama as "my baby daddy."

Posted by CMR | June 12, 2008 11:33 AM

CMR:

And it is no worse than the talking heads describing Jeri Thompson as a trophy wife or MSNBC wondering if she "worked the pole."

Posted by CMR | June 12, 2008 11:35 AM

Abby:

I filed a complaint with the FCC about this. Guess that makes me an "outraged liberal" too. But I think you're right about the Other-ing of Obama that's going on in the MSM. It seems like every story is designed to scream "HEY EVERYONE! Did you notice HE'S BLACK?!?" And then leave it up to the low-IQ masses to think, gee, we can't have a black person running the country! He doesn't look like me!

It's even devolved to the point that an "art exhibit" in NYC had a picture of Malia and Sasha with the caption "Nappy headed hoes". It's disgusting, and it needs to be stopped. This is not adding to our public discourse. It cheapens it.

Posted by Abby | June 12, 2008 11:57 AM

beerbaron:

I'm going to start referring to Cindy McCain as John's Sugar Mama. You know, because she's really, really rich.

Posted by beerbaron | June 12, 2008 11:58 AM

Lulu Lulu:

@mister_hand: It's not that your son hates America, but clearly the Incredibles do.

Posted by Lulu Lulu | June 12, 2008 12:18 PM

shara says:

Yeah, echo what Abby said. I think that the Othering of Obama is a completely intentional effort. Although James is right that most of us aren't going to take it seriously, and it shows how seriously disconnected the FOX News crew are to reality, racism and race-baiting can have subtle effects whether the manifestations as transparent or not, and it just isn't excusable.

Posted by shara says | June 12, 2008 12:20 PM

CMR:

The MSM is engaging in the "other-ing" of Obama? Really? It looks to me as if the MSM is under the spell of Obama. Brian Williams admitted it is difficult to be objective about him. Newsweek's Jon Meacham recently asked McCain how he can possibly hope to win over such a hugely gifted politican as Obama. Time's Mark Halperin said that McCain is going to be rolled over by Obama's charisma in November. Joan Walsh, of the liberal Salon, said that when she was covering the Democratic primary race, reporters swooned over Obama and "swooned" was not too strong a word.

Posted by CMR | June 12, 2008 12:44 PM

DrMyEye:

In "town hall meetings" Obama will tower over McCain by nearly a foot, and Obamas eloquence will make Mumblemouth McCain look like he got shot down yesterday. American blacks are so used to dealing with racism on a daily basis that the reaction to FOX news and its racism is more from college educated white liberals (like myself) that can't truly imagine "walking the walk." Garrison Keillor has a brilliant opinion piece today that recalls the racism that Duke Ellington dealt with as he moved from town to town on tour. He didn't stop to address the racism, he just "played on through". I hope Michelle and Barack "play on through" to the White House.

Posted by DrMyEye | June 12, 2008 12:54 PM

SpotWeld:

Does anyone else get the feeling that Fox News bases it's tone on the idea that people should be making thier important decision on "gut feelings" and "common wisdom" as opposted to actually thinking about it.

Posted by SpotWeld | June 12, 2008 1:02 PM

Alex9:

Fox News isn't being "clueless." They are trying to distract voters from the real and extremely important issues of this election by saying anything-the crazier the better- that will have us not notice, for example, the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling today about granting Gitmo prisoners any human rights. The four justices who didn't want to follow the Geneva Convention or any law of the past 200 years, were the conservatives headed by Roberts and Alito. Now that the three moderate justices on the Court are on their way to retiring, the next president can overturn Roe v. Wade or do many other things that can restrict or expand individual liberty simply by nominating people to do a job.

Sorry for the political rant on a TV blog, and I really don't buy my own distraction argument but I do want to make a plea for the average American to ignore trivial garbage about candidates and vote intelligently.

Posted by Alex9 | June 12, 2008 1:18 PM

shara says:

@CMR: "It looks to me as if the MSM is under the spell of Obama"

I can't really speak much on that topic because I tend to avoid MSM political coverage, other than what I catch at other people's homes or what I see here. I have friends/family who watch political coverage nonstop, they are Obama supporters, and they certainly find plenty of anti-Obama bias to complain about.

Leaving aside the broader aspect of general media bias, Otherizing Obama is exactly what FOX News is doing.

Posted by shara says | June 12, 2008 1:56 PM

Afrodite:

So what should they call McCain's Wife?

"John's Med addicted, charity stealin, plastic surgery addicted, married a month after he was divorced from his 1st wife, trollop?" (McCain called Cindy a trollop his damn self)

This is really crazy considering how long the Obama's have been married...
and even more ridiculous when you think about the horror that is McCain's marriage...everything from the way it started to the fact the he called her the "c" word in public.

Posted by Afrodite | June 12, 2008 2:09 PM

shara says:

http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=870

I came across anteresting rant about this issue posted there!

Posted by shara says | June 12, 2008 2:22 PM

Mike:

This is why the Obama team needs to ignore this whole thing, everybody gets all worked up about it, but its pointless. If fox wants to call her a baby mama, who cares? Its not like anyone watching fox on a regular basis would ever vote for Obama anyways.

People should be out there solving the real problems in the world, like the fact that Lost doesn't come back for another 6 months! JACOB/BENTHAM 2008!!

Posted by Mike | June 12, 2008 2:23 PM

shara says:

My favorite excerpt from that link I just posted:

"This will keep happening. Fox News will keep finding ways to remind its viewers that the Obamas are black (and possibly Muslim), Michelle Malkin will continue to make excuses for Fox News’ dog-whistling racism that expose the fact that she’s about as familiar with logical thinking as a rainbow trout is with knitting, and eventually some portion of the Fox News audience will get to the ballot box in November convinced that they’re not really racists, they just know that there’s something about that Obama boy they just don’t like. This is how it will go. "

Posted by shara says | June 12, 2008 2:24 PM

shara says:

@Mike: "If fox wants to call her a baby mama, who cares? Its not like anyone watching fox on a regular basis would ever vote for Obama anyways."

I definitely see where you're coming from, but I gotta say that I care. I'm not worried about them influencing viewers, but racism or race baiting shouldn't be OK from any source - whether or not the intended audience finds it offensive. It is not cool for anyone, tv networks included, to continually reinforce, excuse, and/or perpetuate racist stereotypes, and I can't just laugh that off because the words rhyme in a pleasing way and FOX News always sucks anyway. They used that phrase because the Obamas are black (I don't care how common or multi-racial that phrase has become - they wouldn't have used that phrase to reference a strong, successful, happily-married white woman in her position, and that's all there is to it), and they said it with the express intention of belittling a woman/family of color. And the rest of us should tell them that that isn't OK behavior by any standard.

Posted by shara says | June 12, 2008 2:41 PM

shara says:

Sorry for so many posts, just one more thought.

@DrMyEye: "I hope Michelle and Barack "play on through" to the White House."

I think so too. Obama has addressed the race issue already, and he did it extremely well. I don't really think that he or his wife need to dignify FOX News with a response at this point. It shouldn't be up to them to single-handedly police the language of the media, that's where we, the concerned, anti-racist Americans, should come in and do our part to promote positive dialogue and raise awareness of the ongoing need for social change.

Posted by shara says | June 12, 2008 2:49 PM

Mike:

@Shara - sorry I should've been more clear that I was speaking from a political strategy perspective. Every single one of your points is 100% valid, it certainly isn't ok or excusable and I think if people feel strongly enough they should do something about it.

The point I was trying to make is that the Obamas and their campaign don't have anything to gain from going after these guys. If he does, he's playing right into their hands and making this election about race, and unfortunately if this becomes an election about race, he probably doesn't win.

Posted by Mike | June 12, 2008 2:52 PM

shara says:

@Mike - Cool, I'm right there with you on that. And Jacob/Bentham 2008, all the way baby ;)

Posted by shara says | June 12, 2008 2:58 PM

CMR:

DrMyEye: Obama is not all that eloquent in debates or press conferences. Of course, neither is McCain.

Posted by CMR | June 12, 2008 4:19 PM

Chaddogg:

@James - as a conservative (albeit one voting for Obama this fall), I must say....arguably your best post ever. I laughed out loud a half dozen times.

Now, maybe that's your brilliant writing (you are, of course, a great writer)....

But maybe, just maybe, it's FOX showing how out of touch it really is, in the most humorous way possible. I mean, HOWIE FREAKING MANDEL does the fist bump EVERY NIGHT on DEAL OR NO DEAL....surely America knows that show is not Hamas training ground #1....

Awesome post. I agree with Fox News that the mainstream media has a liberal bent...but, honestly...COME ON...fist bumps and baby's mamas? Hire me as your editor, because this just embarasses you as a supposedly serious conservative news network...

Posted by Chaddogg | June 13, 2008 12:32 AM

jchapman:

Ok, for the love to God, please stop calling it a fist bump. Its called a pound. And to mister_hand, i hate to break it to you and your 4 yr old, but Frozone did not make the pound popular, i'm 31 and i remember seeing and using the form of communication back in the early 90's. For those of you who are older, you probably can take it back further than that.

Posted by jchapman | June 14, 2008 8:09 PM

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