It’s one thing for an African American columnist to write a column entitled “Obama the Magic Negro,” as David Ehrenstein did in the L.A. Times in 2007, commenting that Barack Obama wasn’t really “black,” just pandering to a black image so whites could ease their guilty consciences.

It’s another thing for a white candidate running to chair the Republican National Committee to make a Christmas mix for his buddies with a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro,” set to the music of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” and then dismiss concerns about racism by saying it was “light-hearted,” as the candidate Chip Saltsman did this holiday. Part of the song, which aired on Rush Limbaugh’s show, goes,

See, real black men, like Snoop Dogg, or me, or Farrakhan, have talked the talk, and walked the walk, not come in late and won.

Some say Barack’s articulate, bright, and clean…but when you vote for President watch out and don’t be fooled. Don’t vote the Magic Negro in…

The press got all over it. The current chair of the GOP up for reelection, Mike Duncan, said he was “appalled” by the song, saying it was not appropriate. What is surprising is that several GOP chairs across the country, with a couple exceptions, told reporters that they didn’t see a problem with the song.

The Alabama GOP chair said it “didn’t bother me one bit.”

The Maine GOP chair: “I had to ask, ‘boy, what’s the big deal here?’ because there wasn’t any.”

These responses are not surprising if you consider the Republican party’s failure among minorities in this year’s election – but you would also think that this election might have taught the GOP elite a thing or two about race. Though many minorities are on the GOP side of certain values issues like marriage, they are for other reasons (see “Barack the Magic Negro” above) alienated from the party.

Saltsman also included songs on the mix titled “The Star Spanglish Banner” and “Ivory and Ebony.”