During the post-address analysis, MSNBC host Chris Matthews said of President Obama: “It’s interesting: he is post-racial, by all appearances. I forgot he was black tonight for an hour.” Video:
Update: Matthews appeared on Rachel Maddow’s program later in the night and made this clarification of his remarks:
Text of Matthew’s full original quote for context after the jump.
“I was trying to think about who he was tonight. It’s interesting: he is post-racial, by all appearances. I forgot he was black tonight for an hour. You know, he’s gone a long way to become a leader of this country, and past so much history, in just a year or two. I mean, it’s something we don’t even think about. I was watching, I said, wait a minute, he’s an African American guy in front of a bunch of other white people. And here he is president of the United States and we’ve completely forgotten that tonight — completely forgotten it. I think it was in the scope of his discussion. It was so broad-ranging, so in tune with so many problems, of aspects, and aspects of American life that you don’t think terms of the old tribalism, the old ethnicity. It was astounding in that regard. A very subtle fact. It’s so hard to talk about. Maybe I shouldn’t talk about it, but I am. I thought it was profound that way.” (h/t Politico)