What the hell is happening in Austria? First the entire nation collapses in paroxysms of uncontrollable grief when its neo-fascist national joke Joerg Haider – drunk and speeding – fatally crashes after a night of debauchery. Now, while the rest of the world celebrates the historic election of Barack Obama, a prominent "America Expert" goes on Austrian national television and erupts in a racist rant:
In Austria, Obama's win prompted a harsh, on-air reaction from a
well-known journalist, Klaus Emmerich. "I think the Americans are still
racists and they must be very badly off to so spectacularly — and that
has to be said, no doubt — send a black man with a black, very
good-looking and clever woman to the White House," he said Wednesday
during a show on public television network ORF.
After saying that
he "wouldn't want the Western world to be directed by a black man," he
added: "If you say that is a racist comment, you're right. Without a
doubt."
Emmerich, 80, was once based in Washington and has also
reported for German television and newspapers over a long career. Given
a chance to retract his remarks, he declined. In a later interview with
the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, he said that "blacks are not as
politically civilized." He also called Obama dangerous and implicitly
compared him to Hitler, citing his "rhetorical brilliance" and his ability to "appeal charismatically to people."
How could someone like this be celebrated for years as Austria's "Mr. America" – the repository of all inside knowledge pertaining to the United Sates?
The Washington Post left out one of the more telling racist utterances of Herr Emmerich – one that many Austrians probably agree with. Emmerich said on national television that "Obama's election would be comparable to a Turk becoming chancellor of Austria" (Das wäre ungefähr so, wie wenn der nächste Bundeskanzler ein Türke wäre in Österreich.) There you have it: a black man is almost as bad as a Muslim.
