Fred Armisen has portrayed Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live over the last several weeks, and it seems to be raising the hackles of the race hustlers. The argument is that a black American should be playing Obama, not a person of white/Asian heritage. I first heard about the contorversy when I was in a cab and the radio happened to be tuned to a "urban" talk show, and the consensus was that the black commentators were offended that a white person would portray Obama. In delving further into this issue, I have found others who are equally offended.

From the Washington Post:

Todd Boyd, a professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California, says viewers might have a different reaction if the roles were reversed. What if, he says, "SNL" had cast a black woman to portray Hillary Clinton? "Do you think there's ever going to be a day when we start casting Queen Latifah to portray Princess Diana?" he asks. "We just don't have the same representations going in other direction.

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune put the question bluntly: "Call me crazy, but shouldn't 'Saturday Night Live's' fictional Sen. Barack Obama be played by an African-American?" Ryan went on to conclude: "I find 'SNL's' choice inexplicable. Obama's candidacy gives us solid proof of the progress that African-Americans have made in this country. I guess 'SNL' still has further to go on that front."

Oh please. The fact that anyone is making a fuss over this shows that they themselves have further to go. We are frequently told that we want a color-blind society, aren't we? The people who are complaining about this are the real racists.