Origins of the "Barack the Magic Negro" flap

In March 2007, ultra-liberal Op-Ed writer David Ehrenstein posted a piece in the Ultra-liberal LA Times entitled

"Barack The Magic Negro"
'The Illinois senator lends himself to white America's idealized, less-than-real black man.'

In the Opinion piece, the writer said things like the following:

But it's clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the "Magic Negro."

and

But the same can't be said of most white Americans, whose desire for a noble, healing Negro hasn't faded. That's where Obama comes in: as Poitier's "real" fake son.

The writer used cinema and cultural examples to make his case that America is comfortable with Obama because he is not blackly threatening nor poses as the stereotypically cinematic hulk of a highly sexualized black man. In other words,Obama's 'not authentic.' Hence his political victory.

We heard nary a peep. Did you? I didn't. [crickets] Not until the GOP put the SAME sentiments and opinions and themes to music. And narrated the song by Al Sharpton impersonator. Then the liberal derangement syndrome kicked into high gear.

Song:

Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that
‘Cause he’s not authentic like me.
Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper.
Said he makes guilty whites feel good
They’ll vote for him, and not for me
‘Cause he’s not from the hood.

Look at the Op-Ed, and read the full lyrics. You will see they are the same. Except the song is actually a spoof of the Op-ed and is highly effective. I find the Op-ed piece more insulting than I do the song. In any case, the song says nothing different than the Op-Ed. But there ya go. Liberal derangement.

The song is here