Congressman Calls Obama 'Tar Baby,' But He's Not Racist

Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado was very frustrated last Friday, about the debt ceiling. So he did what any reasonable Republican congressperson would do, which was to use some creative language to complain about President Obama on a local radio show. Specifically, he said that being associated with President Obama was like being stuck to a "tar baby."

“Even if some people say, well the Republicans should have done this or they should have done that, they will hold the President responsible,” said Lamborn said Friday during an interview on a Denver radio station. “Now I don’t want to even have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a tar baby and you get, you get it, you know… you are stuck and you are part of the problem now and you can’t get away.”

Now critics are questioning his use of that term and are calling it highly offensive to the president.

The term “tar baby” is a reference to 19th-century Uncle Remus stories about Br’er Rabbit but has taken on a negative connotation towards African-Americans.

But really everyone else is just racist, because they're the ones who came up with this negative meaning. Rep. Lamborn just spent his childhood learning vocabulary from Uncle Remus stories.

Lamborn spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen said the comments were a misunderstanding and he apologizes.

“Congressman Lamborn regrets any misunderstanding. He simply meant to refer to a sticky situation or quagmire,” she said.

[ CNN ]