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In reading this dreck, I'm reminded of former Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart's venerable axiom about pornography, "I know it when I see it". This so-called "essay" may not meet the porn smell test, but it comes close enough to ask the obvious question of Joan Walsh, "What the hell were you thinking?"
When, on a prominent political blog, one writes specifically about a black woman's large, voluptuous ass (in this case), whether imminent First Lady, music video vixen or local strip club goddess, you're apt to trigger a predictable response in virtually all hetero males who may read the piece: they ponder the imagery, the autonomic signals head south, and they vividly imagine, for variable periods ranging from 30 seconds to 5 minutes (in some extreme cases, it can become an obsession), how many ways they could grab, fondle and ultimately nail that ass, given the opportunity. Some may run out, or roll over, and sieze the opportunity...not quite what Bill Cosby or BO had in mind in their speeches.
Perhaps Joan Walsh presumes that most of Salon's readers are high-minded feminists and intellectuals who will immediately perceive the symbolism and metaphorical brilliance of a black female writer with a self-identified large butt (a new entrant into the arena of "identity" politics?) comparing Michelle Obama's "junk-in-her-trunk" to the advancement of blacks in American society, culminating in the election of BO. This is frankly either a mind-boggling miscalculation, given the depth and breadth of comments here, especially the criticism from numerous black women; a cynical bid for controversy and the ginning up of readership; or more darkly, an inadvertent glimpse into the semi-conscious racism that permeates the collective mind of affluent white feminist liberals, who are viscerally threatened by a woman who looks and dresses like Michelle Obama becoming First Lady of the United States.
If you're gonna decide to print stuff like this, at least "own" it in a straightforward, honest way, and reflect on the screwed up motives that caused you to post it in the first place. It's an insult to Ms. Obama in particular, black women and all women in general, and even men, given the salacious overtones of any discussion of female asses, let alone large black ones, and a monumentally stupid editorial choice, especially on the eve of the inauguration and in the midst of such catastrophic economic conditions and implications.
Lucky for Salon and Walsh that Cindy McCain is not the new First Lady, because as far as I could tell, she had no significant ass to write about, given her anorexia. Palin would have been a fine surrogate!
