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James Cameron on why he might lose the Oscar for Best Director to Katherine Bigelow: “I would say that it’s an irresistible opportunity for the Academy to anoint a female director for the first time. I would say that that’s, you know, a very strong probability and I will be cheering when that happens.”

Cameron’s been running around practically begging the Academy to split the difference and award Bigelow with the director Oscar and “Avatar” with best picture. At first he sounded gracious but now I’m not so sure. You get the impression that he wants to position himself as the man who bestowed the award on Bigelow, or at least volunteered to get out of her way, as opposed to losing to her fair and square — and the above interview with MTV appears to back that up.

“[A]n irresistible opportunity to anoint a female director.”

What? Anoint?

There’s no way to interpret that other than Cameron saying that her win will represent some form of tokenism. As the ultimate Hollywood insider-conformist, Cameron’s spreading the idea that if he loses to Bigelow she had the edge because of her gender, not her talent.

Because Cameron’s a hopeless Leftist, we can’t even be sure that he understands how undermining it is to slip this idea into the narrative of a Bigelow win. I’m not sure anyone else understands it either. This interview posted last week and my Google search found no criticism.

But what a great example this is of the corrosive evil of affirmative action, multiculturalism, political correctness — whatever you want to call it. The protected class that “benefits” from this nonsense always has an invisible asterisk after their name that questions the true merit of their accomplishments.

*Did Katherine Bigelow win the Oscar for Best Director because she was the best, or because she was a woman?

I’m not asking that question, James Cameron is.

Though there are many reasons why I’m no fan of “The Hurt Locker,” as a booster of Bigelow’s since discovering “Near Dark” on Cinemax one very late night back in 1987, my review opened with an acknowledgement my dislike of the film couldn’t be prejudiced by:

Katherine Bigelow’s direction of “The Hurt Locker” is masterful and might very well place her back where she belongs, at the top of anyone’s list looking for a top-shelf action director.

Should this one-of-a-kind talent take home the gold it won’t be because she’s a woman or because Cameron broadcasted a willingness to step aside.

It will be because she deserves it.