Will the President Condemn Wanda Sykes, as he did with Bernie Mac?

Today, on ABC's This Week program with George Stephanopoulos, the panel praised the president's performance at the White House Correspondence dinner on Saturday. However, Sam Donaldson criticized a speech delivered by comedienne Wanda Sykes, saying she had crossed the line when she stated: "I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker on 9/11"; "I hope his kidneys fail" and that he "needs a waterboarding".



From ABC's This Week Program:

Donaldson: What I liked about [Obama's speech] was that all the zingers.... were in the Gridiron tradition. They singed, but didn't burn. They weren't mean. [However], from what I saw from... the mistress of ceremony [Wanda Sykes], I can't say the same thing. I think Rush Limbaugh should be condemned for whatever meaning he had when he said he wanted the president to fail, and you can jab at him for that, but she [Wanda Sykes] apparently crossed the line as far as I'm concerned.

During a campaign fundraiser for Barack Obama last year - which Obama had attended - comedian Bernie Mac - the guest speaker - made some off-color jokes about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity. Mr. Mac encountered some heckling from members of the audience who asserted that the jokes were offensive. One audience member hollered, "It's not funny. Let's get Barack on!"

About 15 minutes later, Obama tried to smooth things over:

"We can't afford to be divided by race. We can't afford to be divided by region or by class, and we can't afford to be divided by gender, which, by the way, that means, Bernie, you've got to clean up your act next time," Obama said. "This is a family affair..."

The incident later drew a response from Obama's campaign, which criticized Mac's material:

"Sen. Obama told Bernie Mac that he doesn't condone these statements and believes what was said was inappropriate," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement after the event.

However, on Saturday the president seemed to respond positively to Wanda Sykes' crass remarks. Obama smiled broadly and seemed delighted and a bit amused as Sykes expressed her desire to see Mr. Limbaugh's kidneys fail, while associating him with the 9/11 hijackers and saying he needs to be waterboarded. No one in the [Liberal media] audience seemed offended by her vituperations, nor did they demand the president rebuke her as the audience did when comedian Bernie Mac uttered his distasteful remarks

Mr. Donaldson maintained that Rush Limbaugh should be "condemned" for saying he wanted the president to fail, and yet, while he admitted that Wanda Sykes "crossed the line" when she wished ill upon Mr. Limbaugh, Donaldson never called on the president to condemn her.

Nevertheless, since Mr. Donaldson and his liberal cohorts have decided to let the president off the hook, I have no choice but to speak up and demand that the president condemn Ms. Sykes - just as he did when Bernie Mac uttered remarks that were seemingly less offensive than Ms. Sykes' remarks:

Mr. President, last year, you berated Bernie Mac and told him you do not condone his statements and feel that what he said was inappropriate. Since you don't have "a mean bone in your body" - as attested to by Robert Reich on ABC's This Week program, and since you are widely renowned as both the ultimate "healer" and "unifier", I hereby call on you to both rebuke and condemn Ms. Sykes for her mean-spirited, iniquitous and inappropriate remarks!

I hope you'll rise to the challenge. I believe you will.......