On the house cocktail list at Stella’s, a cute little bar near Cornell University:

The Obama
Espresso, cocoa, white chocolate, macadamia nut, milk
3.95/4.95

This cocktail was created before Obama took Osama out. That might call for another ingredient. You’ve got your espresso and cocoa for dad’s side of the family, white chocolate and milk for mom’s side, and madadamia nut for Hawaii. Is there a spirit or cocktail ingredient that says “kicked some ass this week” that they could drop in there? But without a doubt this cocktail at Stella’s has inspired some racist/not racist debates over cocktails at Stella’s. (College town and all.) I thought we’d move the debate to Slog. I vote “not.” But, being translucent, I’m not always the best judge of these things.

80 replies on “The Obama: Racist? Not Racist?”

  2. Well…..I knew a black/white couple with a kid. For Halloween, the dad dressed up as coffee (black leotard), the mom dressed up as milk (white leotard) and the kid had a black leotard with a fluffy white wig to cover her pale brown dreds. Kid had a great time swanning around town saying, “I’m a latte!!!” Not racist, by virtue of the fact that the concept was previously embraced by a small-town, interracial family. So, there.

  4. I think it should be crystal clear, with lots bubbles. His thinking is crystal clear (Vodka) and he’s got a wicked sense of humor (mineral water) though held back with a twist. Did someone way “Obama Martini”?

  7. It’s “racist” in that it acknowledges the color of his skin (or, the respective colors of his parents’ hides), but I can’t see where acknowledging that skins come in different colors equates to racial prejudice. A lot of folks have a hard time understanding that.

    However, the real story here is that they’re clearly biased against the proud birther community in including the macadamia nut in there!

  9. If you added a small dash of ancho chilli pepper, it would add a lot to the chocolate, and give it a little touch of badassery.

  10. I voted racist. Inoffensively racist.
    (I’m white – so technically I don’t have the authority to say what I just said)

  11. I voted not racist, though some comments here have made me second guess myself. Hard to say whether this is celebrating diversity or reducing Obama down to his race.

  12. I think it’s mildly racist but in more of an “objectifying a biracial person by comparing them to a coffee drink you want to sip on” way than a “reducing a person to their race” type of way. If I imagine telling a biracial person about this drink, it seems like a convo that could easily turn uncomfortable, you know?

  13. I voted “racist” because it is. But all “racism” is is consciousness of race. This drink is evidence of that. It sounds kind of tasty.

    Btw, I say add vodka and Kahlua.

  14. How can a drink be racist? Because it uses brown and white ingredients? By that definition, chocolate milk is racist.

  15. @62 – And speaking as a biracial person, the drink doesn’t make me uncomfortable. People thinking that I would be offended by this drink, they make me uncomfortable. It’s just a drink. It doesn’t warrant a racist vote, or this much discussion.

  16. @65 Nailed it.

    The idea that this might be racist is racist.

    In other words, some people need to calm the fuck down.

  17. @54 If it were a martini it wouldn’t have vodka in it, it would have gin. Next you’re going to tell me you make margaritas with that abomination called “margarita mix”.

  19. Racism is a categorical and institutionalized disadvantaging discrimination based on “race”, and ill-defined, entirely-socially-constructed (albeit the constructions usually include some physical characteristics as racial cues) identity category (Is it appearance? Parentage? What “races” are there? Where does one draw the boundaries?). For something to be “racist”, then, it must either result from racism (an act of anti-Hispanic bigotry against a Hispanic man is “racist” in a context where it is informed by institutionalized discrimination against Hispanics) or reinforce a system of racism (e.g. terror campaigns against Black people waged by the KKK). Acknowledging that people recognize and identify themselves and others using “race” categories, is not intrinsically racist (unless one wishes to argue the position that the very act of constructing racial categories creates privilege differentials and institutionalizes them), e.g. observing that Obama is “mixed-race”. That said, I think one could argue the drink thing either way, and it’s not necessarily a binary choice – it could be both racist in some ways and not-racist (or even anti-racist) in others, and it likely comes down to how the drink’s name is constructed by each person in hir particular context. While there doesn’t seem to be any direct harm/discrimination against Black or mixed-race persons that results from naming a light/dark blended coffee drink “The Obama”, there may be validity to the suggestion that it serves to institutionalize problematic racial dynamics. For example, some are suggesting that it reduces Obama to a racial object primarily or only, reinforcing a system that recognizes not-White people as first and foremost a product of “race”. On the other hand, one might argue that making visible/bringing to the forefront the mixed-race identity/grouping of our president, a powerful public figure, serves as a direct challenge to harmful stereotypes that inflect the construction and understanding of racial categories, and is therefore anti-racist. Ultimately it comes down to how someone experiences the drink name in relation to extant institutionalized systems of racial discrimination.

    Personally I don’t find it any more racist than validating the social categories of “race” in the first place by recognizing them, and since most people don’t consider that to be intrinsically racist, I’m going with not racist.

  21. @Horstman – Too many words. Hurts brain. Here is simpler:

    Racism begins with the belief that A) “Race” exists in the first place, and that B) it has some significance. All that institutional stuff is secondary.

    This drink is predicated on an awareness of Obama’s “bi-racial” identity. To that extent, it is racist. It is not necessarily malignant.

    And like I said before, I think with a little tweaking, it could be a nice addition to the Mudslide/White Russian family of refreshing adult beverages.

  24. Since we are talking of race, beverages, and costumes…I knew a couple of Isrealis who went for Halloween dressed head to toe in orange: Orange Jews.

    No?

  25. @74 – I hear that there are Kinky Jews that live in the forests of South America and eat mostly fruit and flowers.

  26. I voted that it was not racist. But I do get @4’s point that it focuses solely on race. As a personal test, I tried to think of what kinds of cocktails would be appropriate for other presidents. The first that came to mind was that JFK’s would include Jameson’s — again, a reference to his ethnic heritage. The only other one I could think of was an Adios Motherf***er for Ronald Reagan. Not because of my personal beliefs about his politics but because when I drink them I get blacked out drunk and can’t remember a thing.

  27. I guess it all depends on whether they have one called The Reagan or The Clinton or not. I’d really like *not* to drink something called “The Bush”, thankyouverymuch.

  28. …do we really have to ask if something based entirely on skin color as = race [of a person’s parents] is racist?

    e~

  29. Kahlua and Hangar One Wheat (for his Kansas grandparents) Vodka.

    Plus acknowledging race is not always racist. The President’s race and unique upbringing are part of the delicious mix that makes him the guy so many voted for.

  30. @44 um, where does something become “racist enough to dwell over”, exactly? i’d rather think all instances of maybe racist through just in case, you know?

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