Limbaugh: "Obama has disowned his white half ... he's decided he's got to go all in on the black side"

Summary: On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh said of Sen. Barack Obama's handling of the controversy surrounding remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright: "It is clear that Senator Obama has disowned his white half, that he's decided he's got to go all in on the black side."

On the March 21 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, while discussing Sen. Barack Obama's handling of the controversy surrounding remarks by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Rush Limbaugh asserted that, "in dealing with this, [Obama] has thrown his white grandmother under the bus, and then, yesterday [March 20], drove the bus backwards and ran over her, where he threw her under the bus, by calling her a typical white woman." He added: "[I]t is clear -- now, this is the stuff, this is the part that might bother some of you. It is clear that Senator Obama has disowned his white half, that he's decided he's got to go all in on the black side." Limbaugh had earlier said: "[Y]ou know, opening these race wounds like this, taking us back 30, 40 years, making it look like no progress has been made -- what Barack Obama has done -- I'm going to say something here that might offend -- or not offend -- but might maker some uncomfortable. But it is clear to me that there has been a major transformation in Senator Obama."

Limbaugh aired a clip of Obama's March 20 interview with Philadelphia sports radio station WIP 610, during which Obama referred to comments he made about his grandmother in his March 18 speech on race. In the clip that Limbaugh played, Obama stated: "The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity -- she doesn't. But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, you know, there's a reaction that's been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way." Limbaugh responded by asking: " 'Typical white person'? What does this finally reveal about Obama?" He continued: "He is not transcendent on race. Obama is telling us that he is a black American first and an American second."

Limbaugh also addressed the recent murder of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, student body president Eve Carson, stating, "I have a question: I wonder how white college students at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, are feeling these days. I wonder if they are nervous walking down the street, and they see a couple of black boys dressed in baggy clothes with their hats on backwards swaggering toward them. I wonder how they feel. I wonder if it makes them fear that they're going to be shot in the face for their ATM cards and their PIN numbers. Obama, do you think that there might be reasons here rather than this being inbred?"

From the March 21 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: How about Obama on the radio in Philadelphia? We have the audio sound bite. Listen to this. Obama threw his grandmother under the bus at the speech on Tuesday, then, yesterday, he put the bus in reverse and ran over her.

OBAMA [audio clip]: The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity -- she doesn't. But she is a typical white person, who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, you know, there's a reaction that's been bred into our experiences that don't go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way.

LIMBAUGH: "Typical white person"? What does this reveal finally about Obama? He is not transcendent on race. Obama is telling us he is a black American first and an American second. Typical white -- his grandmother, who raised him, is a typical white woman? And that these kinds of inordinate fears are bred? I have a question: I wonder how white college students at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, are feeling these days.

I wonder if they are nervous walking down the street, and they see a couple of black boys dressed in baggy clothes with their hats on backwards swaggering toward them. I wonder how they feel. I wonder if it makes them fear that they're going to be shot in the face for their ATM cards and their PIN numbers. Obama, do you think there might be reasons here rather than this being inbred? Typical white woman? Obama has exposed [unintelligible] -- and that's why, ladies and gentlemen, "Passport-gate" is such a welcome arrival for both Obama and the drive-by media.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: You know what? These people, these Democrats are turning practically everything they do into a joke. And this Obama stuff, that stuff is serious. This -- you know, opening these race wounds like this, taking us back 30, 40 years, making it look like no progress has been made -- what Barack Obama has done -- I'm going to say something here that might offend -- or not offend -- but might make some uncomfortable. But it is clear to me that there has been a major transformation in Senator Obama. And it is this: Up until the videos of the right Reverend Wright showed up, Barack Obama had succeeded in transcending race. And there were a lot of people, on the Republican side, too, who felt really good about the guy. He was smart, well-spoken. He was competent. He was able to excite crowds. He looked young and fresh and new, and furthermore, he was black, but it didn't matter to him. He transcended race.

Then the Reverend Wright stuff hits, and that's -- I mean, there's no escaping this. I don't care what kind of speech you make. With average Americans, forget the drive-bys, with average Americans, there's no escaping that. There's no escaping what people heard Reverend Wright said. And if -- as I have heard some drive-by media analysts say -- if most white people in America were shocked at Reverend Wright, when we are told that Reverend Wright's not that uncommon in America in terms of black churches, and what he said is not that uncommon in terms of what many black Americans believe, white America, shocked, thought so much more progress had been made on this. And so, Obama, in dealing with this, has thrown his white grandmother under the bus, and then, yesterday, drove the bus backwards and ran over her, where he threw her under the bus, by calling her a typical white woman.

So, all -- typical white what? Typical white -- no? Typical white woman -- typical white person. Whatever. Typical white person. And now, it is clear -- now, this is the stuff, this is the part that might bother some of you. It is clear that Senator Obama has disowned his white half, that he's decided he's got to go all in on the black side, and therefore, I think -- I saw this endorsement. Bill Richardson, who has -- grab sound bite 22. Bill Richardson, showing up with a goatee and a dangling mustache, like Fu Manchu with the beard -- with a little goatee there. And that's not by accident, ladies and gentlemen.

You know, there's a big argument in the -- between the Hispanic community and black community over who is the official American minority, because the official American minority gets the goodies, and so, there's animosity. And I'm thinking, we might be looking at the Democrat [sic] ticket here. And what little I was able to listen to, because of commercial breaks and everything, Richardson was on fire. Here is the actual endorsement that we got today of Obama from Bill Richardson.

—A.J.W.