Kathleen Parker (who?) and Bill Clinton both agree that criticisms of Obama's health care reforms are not (wholly) founded in racism. Wow, that's a hard position to take. I wonder if they think the sun is hot, too?
Of course, not all the negative reaction to Obama (including) Joe Wilson's infamous outburst are ground in racism.
That still doesn't mean race doesn't matter and isn't related to the current debate.
Obama, learning the mistakes from the Henry Louis Gates saga (remember that?), smartly tried to defuse the latest media-driven flap by stating that he didn't believe Wilson's comments were driven by racial animus. I mean, really, do you expect the president to accuse a sitting member of Congress of racism?
How does race matter, then? A recent Senate GOP mailer directly injects race into the discussion by scaring people into thinking that health care will essentially become a lottery rationed out by race.
Or, take that crusty old fart, Rush Limbaugh. Out of fear of young black students, he's taken to advocating segregating school buses. Real smart, Rush. That's certainly the best way to prepare young Americans to engage in a multicultural society.
I still stand by my earlier comments that there is a fundamental disrespect that some of Obama's opponents have towards him and all of his policies because he is black. Many more people oppose Obama because of principled conservatism or libertarian beliefs. Kudos to them. But, that does not hide the fact that some opposition to Obama is race-based. They'll never accept his legitimacy.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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4 comments:
King Politics - I forgot about you.
Can I ask you a question?
If the Obama opponents are "driven by Racism" and thus this is disconcerting for you - What force do you think is driving the "Black Voter Nullification" as despite having a record number of people who are a part of the "Democratic Machine" represented in the key institutions that provide civic services to Black America - this machine only GROWS IN POWER, never seeming to receive rebuke?
I make the case that the twin sister of "Racial Bigotry" is "Ideological Bigotry" and this is what infects many Black Americans who are predisposed to "Try harder at doing the same thing".
Here we go again. No it is not about race. It's his policies. Do we need to be reminded about who voted for Obama? White people! The majority of the people who are against him are people of non color and to be fair a few color people.
Nothing Obama is doing is surprising to me because he was pretty clear during the election as to where he wanted to take this country. Why are some of you who voted for him so suprise about his agenda? And, enough already with certain blacks thinking this is about his skin color. Please! "Why do blacks do that? Why? Skip Gates now Obama, when it is a serious racial issue then I will let you know
shame
CF,
Why do you always attempt to steer a post towards a new topic?
(God forgive me for feeding the troll)
Anon,
Clearly there are many who are protesting Obama who are not solely driven by his policies. Just look at the speech to school children for example. This is a rather routine and usually benign event that was turned into a circus this time around. Most Presidents, from Roosevelt on down, have spoken to the nations children.... yet we didn't see a backlash that was anything close to the pushback that we saw against Obama.
That was about Whites who didn't want to recognize (and didn't want their children to recognize) the legitimacy of a Black man as President. They couldn't deal with the idea of a Black man in authority, especially this particular man of color, talking to their children.
Regarding your comment about Whites voting for Obama... well, that's quite obvious. He could not have been elected otherwise. But he didn't receive the majority vote in that demographic...and it doesn't wipe away the fact that more whites voted against him than for him. It also doesn't eliminate the fact that many whites voted against him because of racial prejudice.... some even opened up to pollsters and admitted as much.
Here is a great article with more information on my point, published just after the election.
Dr. King isn't suggesting that it's all about race....but race IS a factor.
I agree 110%.
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