Standing Up For Black People': Chris Matthews Not Backing Down On 'Racism' Accusations

MSNBC Anchor Chris Matthews set a new standard for racial sensitivity last week, when he described the usage of the word "Chicago" to attack President Obama as racist.

Nevertheless, Matthews himself appears to be completely oblivious to the ridicule his comments inspired.

"One of the things I'm proudest of in my life is standing up for black people in this country, and the way they've been abused with code language and race-baiting," Matthews said in an interview with NBC. "I have never gotten a more positive reaction from people, and not just African-Americans, but all round the world...people have come to me and said this is the greatest thing they've ever heard."

And now, Matthews is continuing in his quest as a self-appointed crusader against racial injustice, telling MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell that GOP nominee Mitt Romney is "encouraging white anger" as part of his quest to win the White House:

Matthews' motives may well be admirable, even if his approach is overzealous. However, at least one set of observers detects something more than simple passion for racial justice. Specifically, the conservative news criticism website Newsbusters fingers Matthews' adoration for President Barack Obama as a Messianic, world-redeeming figure as being his real motivation force:

"President Obama is the product of our turbulent history, all that came before led to him," Matthews insisted in the closing portion of his "Barack Obama: Making History" documentary that aired at 10 p.m. Eastern on Monday. As such, Obama "needs to continue making history," for "the moment he becomes just another incumbent president, bogged down in the status quo, he will lose something vital since we first met him: his historic self."

We all knew that the Matthews-narrated documentary tonight was going to be a complete puff piece, but Matthews has really topped himself.

Just as President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize before doing anything to merit it, MSNBC's Obama cheerleader-in-chief Chris Matthews insists that history's judgment of the 44th president of the United States must be inverted from its usual order.

Matthews' accusations of racism would be, in this framing, more an attempt to keep dirt off the historical idol he has constructed out of Obama than anything else. Certainly, they would not be reflective of a generalized desire to end racial animus. Indeed, up until recently, Matthews himself was generally one of MSNBC's less ideological anchors, and certainly wasn't known for the high-flying racial hysterics of pundits like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson.

But that was before the thrill up his leg...