# Republican Congressman calls Obama "boy." **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 15, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409 "2008-04-15T05:59:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/21 "2008-04-15T07:22:46Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Except they’re the same age. How many times do I have to point that out? [/QUOTE] So? One is running for the presidency. The other isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/22 "2008-04-15T07:23:06Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Offense was indisputably intended. There’s no question Davis was trying to be demeaning. The question is whether it was intended to be _racially_ demeaning. Since Davis and Obama are essentially the same age, the “youth” excuse doesn’t fly. [/quote] If Obama was white you wouldn’t have said boo. [QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] No matter what the intent, it was breathtakingly _stupid_. [/QUOTE] Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/23 "2008-04-15T07:29:20Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] If Obama was white you wouldn’t have said boo. [/QUOTE] And there’s a significant possibility Davis wouldn’t have said “boy”. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/24 "2008-04-15T07:30:16Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I don’t know that it was racially motivated but it was definitely intended to be insulting, and that fact that he has virtually the same age and political experience as Obama does not put him in a position to be paternalistic or dismissive. [/QUOTE] I don’t think anyone disagrees that it’s meant to be insulting but that’s hardly something to start a pit thread over. The question is if it’s meant to be racially demeaning. I know you’ve pointed out the four year difference in age I just don’t think it matters. They’re manufacturing an issue with his age and ‘inexperience’ in general as a campaign issue against him being president. You can very well be dismissive of someone the same age/experience of you if they’re trying out for an office much higher then you think they’re ready for (or you just want an issue to goad someone with throughout their campaign). He can be perfectly age suitable to be a congressman but considered young to be a President pretty easily. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/25 "2008-04-15T07:33:49Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] [QUOTE=atomicbadgerrace] I agree with Darkhold in that he was attempting to make Obama look young, not that he actually is. Argent Towers has already said everything else I intended to. I’m not saying that it wasn’t an assclown-ish remark. It was. But racially motivated? I’m not gonna go that far. [/QUOTE] I don’t know that it was racially motivated but it was definitely intended to be insulting, and that fact that he has virtually the same age and political experience as Obama does not put him in a position to be paternalistic or dismissive. [/QUOTE] Okay… and, like I said, I’m not saying that it wasn’t an assclown-ish remark. It was. It sounds like you’re really getting bent out of shape over something that you’re admittedly not outraged about. Obama took the high road, though. Were I him, my reply to the esteemed Senator would have been “It’s all good, pops.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/26 "2008-04-15T07:37:24Z")
It’s not completely silly to think that it’s possible to describe a candidate who’s running for president at 47 as too young- 47 is a perfectly normal age to be a congressman, but rather younger than average to be president. That said, it’s very awkward to do it by calling a black man running for president “boy”. Wonder how Davis’s chances for re-election are doing? I’d lay money that he doesn’t stand for re-election, so as to give another Republican a clear field, so as not to give a Democrat a solid shot at the seat. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/27 "2008-04-15T07:39:11Z")
Obama made a pretty bad mistake in his description of small town folks. I can easily see how pointing out all of the negative qualities about them could alienate more than a few, whether what he said was true or not. It’s good for him that people are stumbling even harder all around him, otherwise that blunder might have made a bigger splash than it did. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/28 "2008-04-15T08:12:34Z")
> [@dwyr](#): > > Now you can’t call a male kid a boy anymore? I’ve called my three year old nephew a boy many times. My nine year old nephew gets called plain boy less often, monkey-boy more often, sometimes young man, and even Master Josh. Need I specify on that last one it has nothing to do with slavery? I mean, what the hell? If Obama looks like a three-year-old to you, you may have _serious_ problems that we’re not qualified to help you with. > [@Cunctator](#): > > It sounds like a comment on his age and lack of experience to me. I guess a 50-year-old Representative with no name recognition outside of Kentucky is more experienced than a 47-year-old Senator who has held elected office for longer and has given himself a viable shot at becoming President. I won’t even attempt to decipher the voodoo logic at work here. > [@appleciders](#): > > Wonder how Davis’s chances for re-election are doing? Kentucky ain’t Oregon, so maybe better than you think. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/29 "2008-04-15T08:38:53Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] If Obama was white you wouldn’t have said boo. Agreed. [/QUOTE] _ **Boo?** _ Now you’re calling him a spook? That was only a poor taste joke Weirddave, please don’t take it seriously. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/30 "2008-04-15T08:44:14Z")
If I’m gonna guess, I’m gonna guess belittling but not racist. I honestly don’t think, in this day and age, overt racism is possible for a politician. The social onus is too great, that don’t fly. He will clarify the remark, you can’t get away with that shit anymore. Except gays, maybe. Hippies, sure. Lepers, borderline. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/31 "2008-04-15T08:48:34Z")
[QUOTE=Darkhold] I’m sure we had a similar thread about a white anchor and black athletes didn’t we? Only there 90% of the people wanted to give the anchor woman the benefit of the doubt. [/QUOTE] You’re probably thinking of [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=452211) where **Liberal** called out a CNN anchor for referring to Tiger Woods as “boy.” Of course that case was a bit different since, much to everyone’s amusement, it turned out that the anchor was a light-skinned black woman herself. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, **Lib** kept fighting it for two more pages. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/32 "2008-04-15T09:50:23Z")
Sorry, I do the same thing. I have repeatedly said of BO, “That boy speaks good.” Nothing racial is intended. Just a Southern, Foghorn Leghorn thing. I understand I can be misunderstood, so I am censoring myself, but still, no harm was meant. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/33 "2008-04-15T10:29:11Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] Obama made a pretty bad mistake in his description of small town folks. [/QUOTE] What incident are you referring to? I must have missed it. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/34 "2008-04-15T10:42:18Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] What incident are you referring to? I must have missed it. [/QUOTE] Obama spoke about the inhabitants of economically depressed small towns and how they cling to things like guns and religion for comfort. This pissed some people off and, unsurprisingly, Hillary is milking it for all it’s worth and then some. [Here’s the obligatory Pit thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=463788) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/35 "2008-04-15T11:31:03Z")
[QUOTE=neutron star] Obama spoke about the inhabitants of economically depressed small towns and how they cling to things like guns and religion for comfort. This pissed some people off and, unsurprisingly, Hillary is milking it for all it’s worth and then some. [Here’s the obligatory Pit thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=463788) [/QUOTE] Ah, thanks, **neutron star**. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/36 "2008-04-15T11:34:33Z")
[QUOTE=neutron star] Obama spoke about the inhabitants of economically depressed small towns and how they cling to things like guns and religion for comfort. This pissed some people off and, unsurprisingly, Hillary is milking it for all it’s worth and then some. [Here’s the obligatory Pit thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=463788) [/QUOTE] The spectacle of Hillary accusing somebody else of being “elitist” is almost as mind-boggling as the subject of the OP. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/37 "2008-04-15T12:34:05Z")
Hold the phone! **Boy** is a racist remark? ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/38 "2008-04-15T12:42:37Z")
[QUOTE=Lazlo] Hold the phone! **Boy** is a racist remark? [/QUOTE] Uh, yeah. This is common knowledge in the US. Sure there might be regions in the South where “boy” is used in a more general sense, but calling a grown man a boy is inhernently demeaning and emasculating. …sits back and waits for the apologists to flood in. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/39 "2008-04-15T13:09:58Z")
Is 47 too young to be president? Clinton was only 46 when he was elected. Bush is only a month older (but he was elected 8 years later, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409/40 "2008-04-15T13:32:34Z")
Davis is a tool from a strongly conservative, EXTREMELY white district (only 2.8% black). It’s entirely possible that this was a calculated move to endear himself to the racists, since they’re a voting block he really can’t do without. Then again, it’s equally likely that he’s just an idiot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-congressman-calls-obama-boy/445409.md?page=3)