The pretext many defenders of the more extreme racial statements of Limbaugh and others on the right use for racializing their criticism of Obama is that liberals started it. That is (they say), liberals have been calling any and all criticism of Obama racist, so nobody should be surprised when the right makes fun of them.
I don't believe this is true. Seriously, I don't. I remember blogging here or somewhere else last year, during the Jeremiah Wright controversy, that if Obama got elected, the left would racialize all policy differences with Obama, making any criticism of him out to be racism.
That has not happened. At least until very recently, I haven't seen that in the mainstream of commentary. Which surprises, me, actually. Maureen Dowd wrote her column last week calling some of the Tea Partiers racist, and now Jimmy Carter has said he sees racism behind the protests. Suddenly it seems on the right, there's a powerful meme holding that the left has been doing this since the Inaugural, and the right has finally, finally started to fight back.
Again, I don't think this is true, but I don't know for sure. Can you provide me meaningful examples of liberals characterizing non-racist criticism of Obama's policies as racist? By "meaningful examples," I don't mean some fringe nut on Daily Kos, or a blogger few people have heard of. I mean well-known pundits, politicians or widely read bloggers. There may well be a goodly number of such people that I've simply overlooked, as I don't read nearly as widely on the left as on the right. So I'm making an honest request here.
It should be said that to discern racism as an animating force in the anti-Obama protests is not automatically an unfair charge. To say that it is always unjust to accuse Obama critics of racism is a form of political correctness that is in its own way as hostile to the truth as people who say that criticism of Obama can only be motivated by race hatred. If racism isn't behind at least some of the hostility to Obama, how do you explain this image making the rounds on the right?
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Alicia,
I guess all that spending will pay for itself since you've found some racists on the right. Thanks, I'll sleep a lot better tonight knowing that.
ScurvyOaks,
I think you missed my point. There is nothing wrong with opposition to Obama's proposals/policies, but moderates such as myself are so turned off by the hysteria of the Tea Party/Birthers/etc. folks that it is becoming much harder to hear those who have legitimate criticisms. It's not possible to have a debate about policy if one or both parties are not acting in good faith.
It gives me no pleasure to say that much of the hysterical opposition (as opposed to the rational opposition) to Obama is based on racism.
Obama cut his ties with Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his church, which was the right thing to do; perhaps it is time for Republican leaders to stop legitimizing the hysterical voices on the right.
That's interesting, because moderates such as myself are so turned off by the hysteria of people who use the race card to explain EVERYTHING that it is becoming much harder to hear those who have legitimate criticisms.
Gina -
Anyone who prays over another person to protect them from witchcraft, is a witch doctor. That's not racist - if anything it's anti-religion. But I prefer to call it "sanity."
Mdgiest55 -
You're falling into the same trap that this article warns against. If you think that racism is being used to explain every opposition to Obama's policies then you're either oversimplifying, overcompensating, or just plain not paying attention. I am on the left and I have legitimate complaints about Obama. But when you see nutballs like the birthers and the teabaggers getting national media attention, it becomes difficult if not impossible to pay attention to any legitimate concerns.
About that image that is supposedly "making the rounds on the right": how did YOU get a hold of it? As a far-right free-thinker myself, I have never seen that image before and I almost suspect that some liberal made it up just to make the right appear racist.
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