According to this definition, "tar baby" more often than not refers to someone of dark skin and in an unpleasant way. So, when White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said "I don't want to hug the tar baby" last week, he was in effect expressing a dislike for anyone dark.
I can't understand how President Bush could let this go, or what was in the deep inner mind of Snow as he said this. It's scary to know that someone would just blurt out such a statement in this supposedly more advanced day and age, let alone the White House Communications representative.
You may hold that I'm being hyper-sensitive, but I counter that I'm being appropriately sensitive. Remember, Snow used a comment historically offensive to blacks. In today's society, it's hurtful to insult anyone because of the color of their skin. At times, because such comments have been deeply installed in the mind of some in Americans as "ok" to make, it's that much more important to be hyper aware of the use of them and work to dismiss their application in the future. Snow's the highest ranking communications official in America, and must be held to a higher standard.
Snow may not have intended his comment to be offensive, but he made it, and here's the video to prove it:
