Yet another politician had a slip of the tongue in front of the press.
In a Jan. 31 interview with the New York Observer, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Dela.) said the following about Sen. Barack Obama:”I mean, you’ve got the first sort of mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook man,” Biden said.Articulate, bright and clean? What is he, a Ken doll? Are educated black people such a rarity that they only exist in fantasies and storybooks?
I’m guessing when Biden made this comment Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first to make a bid for presidency, slipped his mind.
Or Lenora Branch Fulani, the first woman and the first black person to achieve ballot access in all 50 states in 1988.
I suppose Biden never thought about Carol Moseley Braun, the first and as of now, the only black woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
Perhaps Biden went blank when it came to the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, two political and civil rights activists who have developed numerous organizations to build civil unity and are always there as spokesmen for minorities that have been persecuted by social injustices.
Obviously, Biden neglected to mention all the other intelligent black political leaders who ran for president before Obama.
Did we all know what Biden meant when he made those remarks?
Maybe, but that doesn’t make the foot in his mouth any smaller.
Yewande Addie for the Editorial Board.