Rush Limbaugh Criticizes President Obama's 'Black Handshake'

Another day, another Rush Limbaugh controversy with racial overtones. On his radio show Monday, Limbaugh was firing his usual litany of complaints against President Barack Obama, likening his brand of liberalism to "totalitarianism," and generally bemoaning what he sees as a weak-kneed foreign policy. Then the entertainer did what he so often does, he infused race into the equation, terming Obama's handshake with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez in April a "black handshake." Here's what he said:


Limbaugh's dittohead fans will tell you that Rush just calls them like he sees them; if his diatribes happen to touch on racial matters, that's just part of the man's honesty. Still, a rather robust pattern has emerged regarding Limbaugh's insistence on making race part of the equation. Thus, Donovan McNabb never really deserved to play the quarterback position, and Colin Powell only voted for Obama because the retired general is also black.

By Limbaugh's standards (and a top ten list of Limbaugh's racially tinged remarks can be read here), this handshake remark is rather benign. Yet it is one more instance of a subject that is something of a favorite topic for the talk-show host.