text: Assistant Village Idiot: Obama
  I know many Gershwin tunes as part of the Standards as interpreted by various jazz singers and instrumentalists. Willie Nelson has played in a good Western Swing interpretation of Lady Be Good. As the exception that proves the rule, I learned of President Wintergreen from a TV special of Of Thee I Sing back in the fall of '72. Carroll O'Connor, better known for playing Archie Bunker, played President Wintergreen.
  As I recall, O'Connor's singing voice was not bad- certainly better than one imagines Archie's to have been. But actors and actresses change according to their role. While Patricia Routledge's singing voice was execrable in the role of Hyacinth Bucket/Bouquet in the Brit comedy Keeping Up Appearances, Routledge's singing voice was good enough for her to perform in musicals and win a Tony Award .
  Yes, the different standards that the left applies toward religion , where it is bad for White Republicans and good for Black Democrats, is rather noticeable. I think that part of the problem is that many and even most on the secular left are not personally acquainted with any fundamentalists/evangelicals or even mainstream Christians. ( Given the number of Episcopalians versus Pentecostals, I grant you that "mainstream" can be debated.). It becomes easy to demonize them when you do not know any of them personally.
  While I have been an atheist or agnostic from adolescence on, I have had fundamentalist Christians as relatives. So while I have disagreed with their religious views, and perhaps some of their political views, I realize that that one can be a good person and also be a fundamentalist, and also have political views that will not result in the destroying of the Republic. Many on the secular left disagree with that.
  The explanations I favor for why normally religion-averse white liberals tolerate the religious expressions by black liberals are paternalism and authenticity. Being a loyal but junior member in the liberal coalition, blacks can be forgiven for seeming to not know they really should grow up and be atheists. This also plays into the assumption that black religious expression is part of 'their' (but not 'our' i.e. white) heritage, and therefore is authentic and something to be celebrated. Among whites, who are supposed to know better, religiosity looks more like Elmer-Gantry-ism.