On Sun, 4 Mar 2001, Chris Kromm wrote:
> Comedian Chris Tucker hosted the awards show, which is scheduled for
> broadcast Friday on Fox.
>
> During one segment, Tucker sat beside Clinton in the audience and
> joked that the former commander in chief is so popular among
> minorities that some consider him the first black president.
I think this line first had its origin in a Chris Rock routine, which was actually pretty funny at the time. I think it was all the way back in the time of Whitewater. Rock said "I think Clinton is the first black president. <pause> He spends a hundred dollar bill -- they hold it up to the light."
Part of the context of the line is the claim that several of our presidents have been already been black if we interpret their race strictly by the one-drop rule. This claim is a hardy perennial of black nationalist discourse. So a black audience wouldn't have found it entirely implausible for a politically interested guy like Rock to claim this with a straight face. It made the joke that much better.
Since then the line has lost its joking quality through repetition and become a tag line.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com