Python decorator as a staticmethod

I'm trying to write a python class which uses a decorator function that needs information of the instance state. This is working as intended, but if I explicitly make the decorator a staticmetod, I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "tford.py", line 1, in <module>
    class TFord(object):
  File "tford.py", line 14, in TFord
    @ensure_black
TypeError: 'staticmethod' object is not callable

Why?

Here is the code:

class TFord(object):
    def __init__(self, color):
        self.color = color

    @staticmethod
    def ensure_black(func):
        def _aux(self, *args, **kwargs):
            if self.color == 'black':
                return func(*args, **kwargs)
            else:
                return None
        return _aux

    @ensure_black
    def get():
        return 'Here is your shiny new T-Ford'

if __name__ == '__main__':
    ford_red = TFord('red')
    ford_black = TFord('black')

    print ford_red.get()
    print ford_black.get()

And if I just remove the line @staticmethod, everything works, but I do not understand why. Shouldn't it need self as a first argument?

Solution

This is not how staticmethod is supposed to be used. staticmethod objects are descriptors that return the wrapped object, so they only work when accessed as classname.staticmethodname. Example

class A(object):
    @staticmethod
    def f():
        pass
print A.f
print A.__dict__["f"]

prints

<function f at 0x8af45dc>
<staticmethod object at 0x8aa6a94>

Inside the scope of A, you would always get the latter object, which is not callable.

I'd strongly recommend to move the decorator to the module scope -- it does not seem to belong inside the class. If you want to keep it inside the class, don't make it a staticmethod, but rather simply del it at the end of the class body -- it's not meant to be used from outside the class in this case.