CBS news: Rice Racism

The "CBS Evening News" has a new opinion segment, and yesterday's contributor
was Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post, who offered an odd commentary about
Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state. He began with some ritual bashing of
American foreign policy and said, essentially, that he doesn't like Rice
because she is partly to blame for policies with which he disagrees. Then he
changed course:

That's the way I feel--until I hear some commentator
describe her as, quote, articulate, which is code for
a black person who speaks standard English. Excuse me,

abracadabra...

It is?
To whom?
I think you're way over sensitive.

Ubiquitous...

Don't tell me; tell the man who was quoted as saying it, Eugene Robinson.

you were expecting the Secretary of State to be inarticulate?

Adam Whyte-Settlar...

Well the President can barely string a sentence together - even though it's
all written for him.
So it seems possible.

That's when I get this involuntary twitch and I want
to defend Condoleezza Rice--when she's patronized,
the way black pioneers in all walks of life have been

Adam Whyte-Settlar...

Exactly. That was part of my point (which you've snipped).

patronized. Look, it may be wrongheaded foreign policy,
but Condoleezza Rice is making it.

Condoleezza Rice is a major, major player in this
administration. So call her whatever you want, but
don't call her a token or a puppet. And please don't
call her "articulate."

It is true that "articulate" is a somewhat racially charged word. There is a
stereotype that inarticulateness is the norm among blacks, and a white person
calling a black person "articulate" can be patronizing, just as Robinson
suggests.

But are we wrong to think that he's maybe being oversensitive? When someone
calls Rice "articulate," why assume that she is being held to a lower standard
based on her race, rather than being held to a high standard to which she lives
up completely? A web search turns up several references to people calling
Rice "poised and articulate." If it's invidious to call her "articulate," is it
equally so to call her "poised"? Excuse me, but you were expecting the
secretary of state to be awkward?

What's more, Rice works for a president who is often accused of being
inarticulate. Is that just code for a person of pallor who doesn't speak
standard English?