Well it’s Obama’s duty to ignore the racial undertones. Part of the reason he was elected while other past black nominees weren’t is because he was not connected to the Civil Rights Movement and therefore was not attached to a specifc racial platform. If I were him I’d ignore it as well, because he cannot seem to be partial towards any ethnicity, class, etc. But I’m glad Carter said what he said because there is a liberty that people seem to be taking with President Obama that was not the case with past administrations. People are blatantly disrespecting him far and not just critiquing his policies. The racial undertone cannot be ignored but it is also not a fight for Obama to wage. I don’t fully agree with all his policies. I believe the new health care plan needs to be adjusted and refined. But, as someone that went into debt after a 10 day stay in a hospital after a botched surgery, as someone that can no longer afford to see doctors to find out why I still hurt, I welcome the change. But change is a violent act and it will not come easily. I just refuse to believe that companies like Pfizer should have an increase in profits while the economy is plummeting and I can’t afford my copays or prescriptions.

MM: …Carter’s racist claim that whites who criticize a black president only do so because they’re racist. Yet another example that the left can’t look beyond Obama’s race.
1. Carter actually said that a lot of the animosity is due to race and that many whites do not feel that Obama is fit to lead because he is black. In the one case he is talking about the anger toward Obama and in the other he’s talking about those who criticize the POTUS. Carter might be wrong, but his comment is not racist. He did not say all whites.
2. I’m not sure who “the left” is, but at least part of the “left,” Obama’s administration, is not acting as you claim. In addition, a conservative at Beliefnet [Rod Dreher] just yesterday had a post in which he said that he did not think the “left” was using race. He may be wrong too.
I’m not sure what is in people’s hearts, but undoubtedly some of the hatred and criticism is due to prejudice, simply because some people in this country are prejudiced. I am also sure that some of the criticism has to do with dislike of his policies, plain and simple.
I do wonder though, why Obama has received more death threats so far than W did in his whole presidency. Obama was called Un-American, an Arab, a Muslim and a Socialist….all during the campaign. It seems to have gotten worse since. I don’t remember any of that during Bush-Gore, nor was W treated that way in the first few months of office. Not to this extent. Why is that? Is that just how the GOP/”the right” roll?

Interesting post, Michele, however, I must disagree with much of it. As far as Jimmy Carter is concerned, my personal opinion of President Carter is that he is an unctuous busy-body, however, I think he does have a point on this issue.
I think racism is definitely the basis for much of the hysterical opposition to Obama: the charge that he is “not one of us” or “not an American” that he is a “secret Muslim” that he is a wannabe Hitler, that he is a Communist/Facist/Socialist. One of these charges, by itself, might not suggest that the hysterical opposition were racist, but taken together, they do appear to me to be a cover for racism.
I’m glad the Obama Administration is trying to shift the discussion away from race, and I think it is a plus that being openly racist is no longer as socially permissable as it once was.
This is my own opinion, of course, and I’m not saying that all opposition to what Obama proposes is racist. Far from it. But I am saying that the hysterical opposition has caused me to largely stop listening to the people who oppose Obama’s policies. Especially to the Republican leaders who have legitimized the “hysterical opposition.”
As for Joe Wilson, I have no idea whether he is a racist or not, but have to point out that this particular breach of etiquette never occured when previous presidents were addressing Congress. Asking whether there might have been some unconscious racism there seems to me to be a legitimate question.
I hate racially based demagoguery, and, approximately one year ago on these boards, said numerous times that I thought Jeremiah Wright was a racist demagogue. Consistency requires me to say that I think there is a lot of racist demagoguery and mob-like behavior that is chilling occuring on the right today.

Michele,
Specifically who is the “left uses the president’s race as a weapon?” Give us a list of specific “left” that has used race baiting. How many examples? One? Thousands?
Read Rod Dreher’s blog:
Anti-Obama criticism racist bleg
blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2009/09/anti-obama-criticism-racist-bl.html
“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.”
So far, no one has provided any “meaningful examples.” Examples have been provided of racist remarks from the right.
Supreme White Alliance
Plot Kill Obama – record number of death threats
Planned to kill over 100 blacks before Obama
Dress up to kill Obama and go out in blaze of glory with all their guns
Well over 500 death threats
http://tinyurl.com/ry3hxj
Tea Party leader Mark Williams said Obama was a “racists in chief – Indonesian Muslim and a welfare thug - on a CNN panel on “Anderson Cooper 360″
After listening to Williams, Anderson Cooper said, “What you’re saying makes sense to me here when I’m hearing what you say but then I read on your blog, you say, you call the President an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug and a racist in chief.”
Williams shrugs and responds, “Yeah, that’s the way he’s behaving.” An incredulous Cooper asks Williams if he really believes Obama is an Indonesian Muslim and a welfare thug. The tea party leader digs the hole a little deeper: “He’s certainly acting like it. Until he embraces the whole country what else can I conclude.”
http://tinyurl.com/ovjsx9
What part of the country does Obama not embrace. The remarks are similar to Palin’s vile during the campaign about “real America” and Obama not being one of us. The statements are designed to instill and promote fear and hate.

thanks gmo2. you made the same 3 points that i wanted to make. i’ll just list them in fewer words:
1. michele, you distort what carter said (typical political move)
2. the obama administration is “the left” that denounced the claim that all criticism of the president has a base in racism
3. you continue to ignore the indisputable fact that there is a racist faction on the right that has mobilized against obama
on top of that i’ll add this. a blatant disregard for the sensitivity of race that is displayed by you and other conservatives shows a lack of compassion for your fellow man.
by using this argument, the right-wing is playing the persecution card with very little to back it up.

Michele,
No one said that everyone opposed to the president’s policies is a racist. Certainly president Carter wasn’t. But you and others on the far-right keep saying that there is no racism involved at all. You know that’s not true. Why don’t you admit that racism is indeed a factor?

No no…The RACISM jimmy carter was referring to was the RACISM by the 95% vote for Obama…that racism the one by THE BLACKS!

missy, don’t be childish and bitter. an overwhelming number of whites voted for obama, too.
with the way the republican party handles black and latino race relations these days, it’s no wonder that most people of color are democrats. what did you expect them to do, vote for the other party?

An overwhelming number of whites (no actually a less than 50% of whites) voted for Obama. But many did…let’s see…so if you vote for Ob ama you’re not racist but if you didn’t, you’re racist. You Democrats are as stupid as Bill Maher these days. Is this all you have left, calling people racists?
Now back to the RACIST 95% BLACKS that voted for Obama because he is BLACK…that is called RACISM. Live wid it, own it, it’s yours.

missy, i’m no democrat and i didn’t call you a racist, but the more you talk, the more embarrassed i feel for you.
no, i called you childish and bitter. don’t change, you fit the republican party perfectly.