Bill Clinton and Blago's racist comments were more racist, but the media/GOP will only focus on Reid

In the last 72 hours we have learned that three Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, former President Bill Clinton and Rod Blagojevich, disgraced former Governor of Illinois, have all made comments about President Barack Obama that involved race.

Reid's comments are the least offensive of the three, however because he is the Senate majority leader and therefore the only one who has something to lose he is the one that the media and the GOP will focus on and put in the hot seat.

Clinton and Blagojevich have no power, no official standing so their comments cannot be leveraged/manufactured for political theater, even though what they said was much worse.

Reid used racially insensitive language as he PRAISED Obama, while both Clinton and Blagojevich made racist comments while attacking Obama.

Lets look at the three comments and tell me why Reid is the one getting the heat.

Reid on Obama as paraphased in the book Game Changers: "He [Reid] was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama -- a 'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,' "

Clinton on Obama to the Sen. Ted Kennedy: "a few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee."

Blagojevich on Obama: It's such a cynical business, and most of the people in the business are full of sh** and phonies, but I was real, man — and am real. This guy, he was catapulted in on hope and change, what we *hope* the guy is. What the f***? Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter. I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up.

Looking at Reid's comments you might actually view them as more of an indictment of the electorate, the majority of which is white, rather than a criticism or insult of President Obama.

The media and the GOP are not interested in any kind of productive discussions on race and racism, they care more about instigating political theater. If the media showed any kind of understanding of race and racism Harry Reid wouldn't be the one on the hot seat today.