Black Democratic Strategist Rips Fox Host For Saying Obama’s Making Things Worse For Blacks

During an appearance on Fox & Friends Thursday, Reverend Jacques Degraff, a Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor, shredded host Elisabeth Hasselbeck for arguing that black Americans lives have been made more difficult by President Obama. Hasselbeck had Degraff on to ostensibly talk about a recent story in People magazine where the First Lady and President spoke in detail about how they’ve dealt with racism in their lives. The conversation then shifted to the White House’s policies, and later, Hasselbeck wondered if the Obamas were doing harm to America by talking openly about race.

The former reality show contestant told Degraff that she thinks Mrs. Obama may have misrepresented an incident at Target where she was mistaken as the “help” because the First Lady had previously joked about the incident with David Letterman. In Hasselbeck’s mind, Mrs. Obama was just “being normal like everybody else” when she spoke with Letterman in 2012, but now she appears to be race baiting by speaking about it in a different context. Degraff pointed out to Hasselbeck that African-Americans “have learned how to deal with our pain and put a smile on irritating, annoying or downgrading situations.” Hasselbeck, playing dumb, asked if the First Lady had time to realize the incident was racist, leading to Degraff saying African-Americans in general all have similar experiences of dealing with ignorance.”

It would only go downhill for Hasselback from there. The ex-View co-host then tried to get Degraff to agree that President Obama has made things “more challenging” for blacks in America. Hasselbeck used the tried and true Fox News tactic of ‘some people say’ when she said, ”Some would make the argument that it has become more difficult for black Americans under this president.” Degraff’s response was pure perfection and completely exposed Hasselbeck when he retorted with the following:

“Someone white would make that argument. The issue is being black in America under a Democratic president and a Republican president. It’s difficult dealing with ignorance if you’re black in America.”

This seemed to have taken Hasselbeck aback, but she persisted nonetheless, as the purpose of the segment was to prove that Obama was making things worse for not only blacks, but all Americans, by having the audacity to talk about race. While she said it is possible that the First Couple may have had to deal with some bias while in the White House, she still wondered if they were making things worse by openly talking about it because it didn’t represent all (i.e. white) Americans. Once again, Degraff just used the opportunity to show everyone what an ignorantly racist person Hasselbeck is by telling her they do represent all Americans and they are trying to humanize the office by “talking about what their life is like.”

Below is video of the interview, courtesy of Fox News:

In the end, Hasselbeck came out looking like person so fully ensconced in white privilege that she has absolutely no clue why black Americans think this society is inherently racist. Instead, she just wishes blacks, especially well-known African-Americans, would just stay quiet about the issue because it just isn’t doing any good to talk about it. In other words, she is the perfect host for Fox News.

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).