Mellow Yellow

I got a gypsy woman givin' me advice
I got some red hot tips I got to keep on ice
--I Got My Mojo Working, Muddy Waters

Look how the world's poor people
are amazed at apparitions, signs and prodigies!
--Venus and Adonis, William Shakespeare
_____________

In his first news conference as president-elect, Obama said most dogs at animal shelters are "mutts like me." AP dutifully reported, "It popped out casually, a throwaway line."

Can anyone be so gullible as to believe this was not scripted?

You are going to talk about the cute puppy dog you have promised to buy your kids, and you have not rehearsed the pound puppy talk before its presentation to the word? This was another brilliant-but so-contrived sop to the still skeptical masses ("I'm just like the best doggies -- a combination of breeds, hybrid vigor and all that. . .")

What has happened to our news outlets, that they must overlay their interpretation of every comment, like a play-by-play sports announcer. Is their audience so malleable or lacking in discernment or brain dead that they feel entitled to do this?

The Obama persona we are being fed is that he is ingenuous. Definitely not uppity or "god-like," as was the unfortunate first impression he gave.

Yet later in the same talk, he gave a jab to former First Lady Nancy Reagan. When talking about consulting with all living former Presidents for input, Obama said snarkily, "I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about, you know, doing any seances."

Some unsolicited advice for Obama: Not all will find your "mutt" comment to be self-effacing, nor your seance comment to be inoffensive. To some blacks, being a mutt equates to being high yellow, a designation that can carry overtones of racial superiority.

In addition, many blacks (as well as whites) put confidence into things of the fifth dimension. Much of the clientele at black palmists and cardreaders arrives after church in their Sunday Going-to-Meeting clothes. This is no slam on card readers. People of all races and affiliations hedge their bets.

But Obama's missing one side of the street if he doesn't know that a large contingent of people haven't cast off superstition. Haven't rejected the thought of getting their mojo working by taking a John the Conqueror bath. Still believe in Conjure Women, and the Pathetic Fallacy.

So by his second comment, Obama negates an absolute ingenuousness. His "muttness" is not enough to ameliorate his apparent separation from the common folk.

Will someone please tell Mr. Obama that if he needs a social adviser from the Deep South/militia/minority p.o.v. to aid him in avoiding these sorts of gaffes, I'm available.