Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson
argues that Jimmy Carter did us all a favor by injecting race
into the national debate, though he's a bit more reserved in his
perspective:
Jimmy Carter was right in essence, but wrong in degree. It
seems clear to me that some -- but not "an overwhelming
portion," as Carter claimed -- of the "intensely demonstrated
animosity" toward Obama is indeed "based on the fact that he is
a black man."
Robinson goes on to mention people who question the legitimacy of
Obama, the "birthers," those holding up signs with offensive
caricatures at rallies, and perhaps Joe Wilson.
His insinuation about Wlson is a non sequitur (after all, Wilson
shouted "You lie!" rather than some racial epithet). But beyond
that, by narrowing the argument to "some," of course, it makes it
easy to point to some people who are in fact racists. However,
there's really no evidence that the criticism Obama is being
subjected to is more severe than any other modern president.
There were loons on the right during the Clinton years who
believed Vince Foster was murdered and on the left during the
Bush years who thought he orchestrated 9/11. So, you can always
point to nut jobs. Since there are some racists in this country,
it naturally follows that some people who oppose Obama
also happen to be racists, but I don't think that's really news.
Americans elected Obama by a comfortable margin and he came into
office with sky high approval ratings. The drop off in his
approval ratings and increase in his disapproval ratings was not
caused because people suddenly discovered that Obama was a black
man. ("Oh, damn, I kind of liked this Obama guy during the
election, but then somebody told me he was black, and now I can't
stand him!") Nor was his slide caused by any major racial
controversy. The problem for Obama is that the economy is still
weak, unemployment is still climbing, and many people who wanted
to give him a chance are losing faith in his policies and ability
to turn this thing around. Will the Robinsons of the world always
be able to find racists out there if they go looking for them?
Absolutely. But that doesn't mean that every time some bigot
holds up an offensive and juvenile sign at a rally, we need to
have a national conversation about race.
