On 'Barack The Magic Negro'

The Washington Post has a nice summary of 'Barack The Magic Negro', which Republican National Committee chair candidate Chip Saltsman distributed to potential supporters on a Christmas CD:

The song, written by conservative satirist Paul Shanklin and aired repeatedly on Rush Limbaugh's radio show last year, is sung in the imagined voice of the Rev. Al Sharpton to the tune of the old Peter, Paul and Mary song "Puff the Magic Dragon." It was inspired by a March 2007 column in the Los Angeles Times by David Ehrenstein, an African American writer who sought to place Mr. Obama's candidacy in the larger context of what he called "the magic Negro," an idealized figure who assuages liberal guilt and fulfills white Americans' desire for "a noble, healing Negro." Mr. Shanklin took the column and ran: "Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C./The L.A. Times, they called him that/'Cause he's not authentic like me./Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper/Said he makes guilty whites feel good/They'll vote for him, and not for me/Cause he's not from the 'hood."

While this AFP piece suggests that 'Barack The Magic Negro' "has triggered a nasty battle for the soul of the struggling [Republican] party," Posts Washington and Huffington both reach the same sad conclusion- Saltsman's actions may actually have helped his candidacy.