I am, of course, referring to this little poor choice of words.
First off, Dan explains in his own way, that he is from the pre-internet generation. This is understandable. The man is just old. You have to remember, he was one of the reporters in the trenches in Vietnam. He did work under Walter Cronkite. So, he is old, as in almost my dad’s age. Even I can understand that.
He explains his rather “off the cuff” remark:
All this is the backdrop for what I said on the Matthews show. I was talking about Obama and health care and I used the analogy of selling watermelons by the side of the road. It’s an expression that stretches to my boyhood roots in Southeast Texas, when country highways were lined with stands manned by sellers of all races. Now of course watermelons have become a stereotype for African Americans and so my analogy entered a charged environment. I’m sorry people took offense. – Source Huffington Post
He goes on to say, and I believe this is important:
But anyone who knows me personally or knows my professional career would know that race was not on my mind. Reporting on the injustices of race was part of the reason I became a reporter. I grew up in segregated Texas on the same side of the tracks as the African American community. At the time, enlightened people called them Negros. Many people called them much worse. When I covered the Civil Rights movement, I saw sheer hatred in ways that still haunt and shock me. For doing my small part in reporting on the South in the 1960s, I was called a traitor to my roots and other names not fit for print. I was threatened with death by people who would have welcomed me to their church on Sunday on account of my white skin if they didn’t know what I was there to do. I do not take this issue lightly.
I am inclined to believe him here, as I do agree with his position on the subject. Also too, I believe it is important to understand the framing of the comment as well. He did just say, in his own southern style that President Obama is, in fact, a lousy salesman. Now he said something to the effect of, “That Obama isn’t nothing more than a stupid Watermelon eatin’ so and so…” it would be quite different. But it was not said in that matter. Yes, I know, Rush Limbaugh and we Conservative Bloggers did raise the “If a Conservative have said that” flag up; Which I believe is valid. There is a double standard in this country when it comes to race and political party affiliation, I know that. However, I believe this one here was just a tad bit blown out of proportion.
Finally, Dan Rather makes this very important point:
What saddens me is what this experience has made all too clear. Much of what we call news, isn’t. Much of what we Tweet, or post, or chat away at under the guise of news, are distractions.
[…]
The optimist in me believes that we are not as polarized as the partisans on the left and right would want us to believe. They make money on division. I have gotten dozens of letters from viewers for my HDNet show saying that they thought I was a left-wing partisan hack until they sat down and watched our reports. This is not meant to be self-aggrandizing. It is just evidence that if we stopped worrying about political point-scoring and sat and listened to the issues that matter, we would be less distracted and more focused on the problems that we all face and must solve together.
Sorry folks, I cannot argue with that. Thanks Dan for the clarification. I know I might take heat for highlighting the above, but you know what? I do not care. I think if both sides would simply work together and stop with the decisive nonsense; we might just be able to fix the Nation’s problems; like Healthcare, like Jobs and many of the other problems that are hurting Nation right now.
