Mitt's 'tar baby' turns the news world upside down

It used to be that you knew exactly what you were going to get when you opened the morning papers.

If you read the Globe, you knew that Democrats would get the benefit of the doubt, and that Republicans would be viewed critically, if the Globe deigned to cover them at all. If you picked up a Herald, Governor Romney (or Cellucci, or Weld) would get the soft shoe treatment, while it was open season on Democrats.

I find that familiarity comfortable.

So I had to double check what I was reading this morning as I caught up on the governor's controversial comments in Iowa over the weekend. In response to a question about the Big Dig, he replied, "The best thing for me to do politically is stay away from the Big Dig - just get as far away from that tar baby as I possibly can."

The Herald coverage of Romney's visit bordered on hysterical, with the screaming front page and an article that quoted black activists and personalities condemning the governor's comments. For instance:

"Tar baby is a totally inappropriate phrase in the 21st century. If Calvin Coolidge didn't use it, why the hell should Mitt Romney?" railed Larry Jones, a black Republican and civil rights activist...."He thinks he's presidential timber, but all he's shown us is arrogance."

.....

"He (Romney) obviously has lived a sheltered life," said Leonard Alkins, president of the Boston NAACP. "He's completely disconnected with reality in terms of racial sensitivity. He just does not get it."

Maurice Lewis, a former Boston television reporter who is black, said of Romney's choice of words, "I just think it's reflective of how he sees people who don't look like him. Words like tar baby and pickaninny are deeply rooted in the segregation of America. They don't have an ever-changing, ever-expanding meaning."

Jimmy Myers, host of the WILD 1090 AM morning talk show "Talk to Me," said, "I think someone who is close to Gov. Romney needs to explain to him a part of history that maybe his blue blood doesn't let him see.

"Mitt Romney is an empty suit," said Myers, who is black. "Well, now he's an empty suit with a little tar on him. He'll need miracle cleaner to get out of this one."

Surprisingly, the Globe's coverage presented a nearly opposite view, with most of the people interviewed for the article pooh-poohing the significance of the statement:

In 1981, author Toni Morrison published a novel titled "Tar Baby," and she has compared the expression to other racial epithets. She says it's a term that white people used to refer to black children, especially black girls.

Reached at her home near Princeton University, where she teaches, Morrison called the expression "antiquated" and one that's "attractive to some people, when they
begin to search for hints of racism....How it became a racial epithet, I don't know," she said. "It was my attempt to rescue the phrase from its low meaning. I wanted to annihilate the connotation and return the meaning to its origins. Apparently, I haven't succeeded."

.....

"I don't believe he was making a disparaging remark, and if he was, I'd be the first person to call him," said Don Muhammad, minister of the Nation of Islam in Boston, who said he had not heard the expression in 50 years. "I suppose one ought to be allowed to clarify his remarks. I have no problem with it."

The Rev. Ray Hammond, chairman of the Boston Ten Point Coalition, said that he spoke to Romney yesterday and that the governor was contrite.

"I certainly understand why people are upset about it," he said. "He was very clear that he knew nothing about the history or the racist overtone of the term. He was mortified and he was very apologetic. I suspect he just didn't understand the origin of the term." He said he wouldn't use the term in the future, based on what he now understands.

The Rev. Eugene Rivers III, whose Ella J. Baker House recently received a state grant Romney steered to him to fight youth violence, said questions raised about the governor's word usage were akin to a tempest in a teapot.

"It's not the language I would use," he said. "It's too easy to be misunderstood. Someone could incorrectly assume that there is a racial subtext, for which there is no basis in fact. But I think some people read too much in language in a politically overcorrect environment. Frankly, what the governor has done on the public safety stuff would trump any colorful language he used."

Even liberal media critic Dan Kennedy mostly gave Romney a pass on this one. In fact, I think this is much ado about nothing (or at least very little). Was the use of the term "tar baby" insensitve? Probably. It's very easy to be insensitive about something you don't know or haven't experienced. I'm sure I've said things that have been insensitive because I wasn't aware that I was offending anyone. Didn't make what I said right, but didn't make it malicious or racist either.

I think the Globe covered the issue fairly, while the Herald was over the top in their treatment. I suppose that's my lesson for today: at the Herald, controversy trumps politics, even for a favorite son.

Update: Adam Reilly at the Phoenix uses this opportunity to remind us of Mitt Romney's greatest gaffes.

Tags: Massachusetts Mitt Romney Big Dig Tar Baby Iowa Republican Election 2008