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Carter's Charge Is a Distraction
Getty Images; AP Photo
Obama defenders who see racism behind the attacks may be well-intentioned. But Obama has bigger fish to fry—and the country has come further than you think.
The most serious issue is power and the execution of policy, not the color of the man sitting in the Oval Office. But Jimmy Carter has just joined the group of print and cable-TV pundits who feel that they need to tell America some things about racism and how much of Barack Obama’s present trouble with right-wing hysteria over health-care reform is actually about hatred of his skin color. Many seem to take Carter and the others seriously because so many of them are white and if they say all of this redneck flapdoddle is about racism, every head should snap to attention.
Though the intentions of Carter and the others might be good and might have seemed courageous in some other time, they now appear as no more than a distraction, or a diversion from the issue at hand: wielding power by getting votes in place. The commander in chief has whales to catch and fry in public and we can be sure that he knows what is going on. It has gotten that late in the world.
Wow: The Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs make barely veiled ethnic criticisms and interpretations of the president’s every move. Such things go with the territory; if you are afraid of getting a punch, don’t try to get to the heavyweight championship.
There is no reason to miss any of this. Barack Obama has not forgotten something that many obviously have, preferring to see him as a powerful victim tied down on the beach by a gaggle of bigoted yahoos. Wrong. Not tied down. He is the president, which is a mantle worn with elegant ease and is but one of the reasons why he maintains the Fred Astaire relaxation of percussive rhythm that has always distinguished him.
• James Carroll: America’s New Racial Reality
• Eddie Reeves: Race and the Right While an Ivy League black-studies professor wished that the president would take on some of Muhammad Ali’s brashness, it seems to me that Obama does not have to prove himself ready by repeating the black-power huffing and puffing that was tired when it was new. Where we are right now is about power politics. It is not a blaxploitation movie filled with loud threats, cardboard white villains, and shallow black guys mean as a straight razor.
After all, how is it possible for Obama to be surprised by hot-air fringe addictions like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh? Wow: They make barely veiled ethnic criticisms and interpretations of the president’s every move. Such things go with the territory. If you are afraid of getting a punch or feel that you should not be struck, don’t try to get to the heavyweight championship.
Our duly elected president knows how it feels to have been dogged for years by the envious and the intimidated. He is a very bright guy, perhaps a genius, and Americans have always been suspicious of extreme intelligence. I once saw written on a bathroom wall the essence of it in conflation: A mind is a terrible thing to waste—especially on a nigger.
Are we to expect the green-eyed monster to stop roaring just because a colored man won by a wide margin after campaigning for two years through the wilderness of ethnic suspicion and surreal claims of his being a Manchurian candidate?
Even though Obama is actually a half-caste and one of the very small number of actual African Americans in the entire country, he is dark enough and has hair wooly enough to play the part of moving target for immeasurable hostility to the width and depth of his mind.
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Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
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Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
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Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
Jimmy Carter is absolutely right. Although I agree that it would be counter productive for President Obama to engage in this dispute, there is no question that racism is the major element in the campaign to smear Barak Obama. NeoConfederates learned a long time ago that the standard racist attacks won't wash with most people and that they're too easy to spot. They have moved on to other code words and images. The intention is still the same: enforce the sense of difference and danger.
Exactly. Elucidating the explanation for it does not mean the President needs to play victim nor take up the fight. I am puzzled by the author's suggestions that it does.
In a recent poll, 1/3rd of New Jersey conservatives answered "Maybe" to a question over whether Obama was the Anti-Christ. I've personally heard a number of people say, without irony, that they thought that same thing. I never heard that about Clinton, Bush Sr., George W., Carter, or any other president. Carter was one of the most vilified presidents - so when he says hate towards Obama is unprecedented, he knows what he's talking about.
Most of the people who don't like Obama's policies are NOT racist - however, people need to admit what every poll and study will show - that there are indeed millions of racists who have a seething hatred of Obama that stems partly from his race. Why can't people admit that if it's true. To deny it, is to say there are no racists - and that clearly flies in the face of reality. Even if racists only account for 3% of the population that would mean there are 10 million of them out there - and that should be a number that would scare anyone.
Tactically, it is smart for Obama not to get involved in this argument - people can't handle it.
Stanley Crouch's take that "Obama has bigger fish to fry," completely misapprehends the ramifications and portent of the social tension ailing America.
Dissecting the psychology of the rallying mobs spewing hate, and agitating civil chaos is necessary and demands public discussion. The rage, incoherent, displays of illogic displayed by these protestors are comprised of a combination of professed grievances and pose a serious danger to the future of this country.
These "uprisings" have provided a venue where latent racial hatreds can be expressed with full abandonment; street theatre performed for a mass audience. It's too late to marginalized these voices...the media blitz has aggrandized their presence thus allowing these fanatics to frame the cultural/political dialogue.
By working with force and determination to neutralize these groups, Obama would not be acknowledging his own "victimization," but realistically engaging in battle with those who would discredit his presidency, and race by any weapons in their arsenal.
robwriter,When the left brings up Race or Pelosi starts with the tears and how she remembers the violence of the past. They are just trying to "Create a CRISIS". This right out of the book Rules for Radicals. Front page article in POLICIO today... The one this president learned from his Mentor Saul Alinski.. Go buy it and you wont believe how they have been working the right for years...LOL
We don't agree with Obama's policies, bail out of Car Co,Banks,Ins,Freddie/Fannie, Wall Street, Porkulus Bill, pork filled budget,cap and trade, and now Gov. Health Care. Let's not forget his Mentor Saul Alinski, Van Jones, ACORN,Czars. THESE ARE THE REASONS!!!!!! My question to everyone is, Can you Read?????
You don't care about any of these issues. Robwriter. It makes me laugh how all of the sudden, Reps care about how the money is spent. They didn't protest during Bush's administration and he spent like a drunken sailor. But then, he was a Rep and that is different, somehow. I think people are scared by the economic situation that Bush caused, but many of them are racist in their dislike of Obama. We've seen the signs and we have heard the rhetoric. THESE ARE YOUR REASONS, and I can read.
diamondgirl: Maybe Pelosi's tears should really be about over how the Democrats and progressives let America be highjacked. The Democrats have squandered 40 years subscribing to the philosophy of taking the high moral ground, as if this would save the day and the country.
Over the years the population has been lulled to sleep by the prosperity with which we were blessed. Now the COLLAPSE, has brought the hibernating haters out into the open. These are the Radicals, a minority of noise and ignorance. This crisis is real, cultural and political and threatens the stability America.
As Rick Perlstein inferred in his important book "Nixonland," the Baby Boomer Generation failed their collective future by underestimating their opponents by practicing a strategy of "activism" that was in denial of what they were dealing with. "Taking the high road" has detoured America on the wrong path and the barbarians are rattling the gates.
As Perlstein wrote: "It couldn't see what Nixon did: that one wave of the political future was an ambivalent reactionary rage."
It's 2009 and we see it now, boy do we see it now!
Newswomen I cared when Bush was doing it, I hated it and I didn't like him either. If I knew this site was here then I would have been on here bashing him too. Bush did part of this, so did congress, wall street, bankers, ACORN, plenty of blame to go around for everyone. But Obama, has made it a Trillion Times Worse, with everything I described above.
diamondgirl: You don't think WE can "Read????"
You may have some reading skills but your post spews a lot of catch words, and factoids snatched from here and there from different sources that you shoot on the page like bullets points in random placement bereft of logical or coherence.
Your writing clearly demonstrates a confusion of mind and lack of cohesion.
I have to weigh in on Jimmy Carter. I think he is a decent man but he is often politically naive. In this case he knows of what he speaks. To underestimate the component of racism that fuels an element of the fire blazing in some of these protestors is to deny reality.
Even if tomorrow, Obama signed a law doing away with income tax, this miracle would be rejected by the hand that produced it.
Ah, Mr Crouch, very well said. Thanks for this piece.
The condescension in Carter's defense of Obama is racist in itself. Obama is President of the United States, he doesn't need a bunch of guilt ridden southern liberals to try to turn him into some sort of protective species. This whole line of conversation is totally counter productive to what should be a serious debate about the role of government. Instead it is turning into a clownish food fight between Right and Left.
neverlate: Typical conservative "cardist".
Alan You are a leftist enabler to all those who are Racist. You will not stop, or detour this topic. We don't agree with Obama's policies, bail out of Car Co,Banks,Ins,Freddie/Fannie, Wall Street, Porkulus Bill, pork filled budget,cap and trade, and now Gov. Health Care. Let's not forget his Mentor Saul Alinski, Van Jones, ACORN,Czars. THESE ARE THE REASONS!!!!!! My question to you is Alan, Can you Read?????
diamondgirl: Well, I guess I can read.
The real question is, why would I (or anyone but conservatives) want to read your hate-filled screed?
Conservatives: Inhabiting an Alternate Universe.
No, the clowns are the people with the Obama as Hitler signs, the Obama as witch doctor signs, the birfers, Beck, etc. President Carter wasn't defending President Obama at all, merely pointing out what motivates the clowns. I see you have a problem with that. Guilty, much?
News flash from Carter - there are racist in this country. This is not about them, its about stifling the free speech of people who have concerns about the direction of their government, not about the crazies that you, Carter and the Liberal media are obsessed with.
And what does that make the people with Bush as Hitler signs, Bush as monkey, the truthers, Olbermann, etc.?
I don't recall Carter impugning the motives of those people. Of course, he WAS one of those people, so I suppose that could explain the silence.
again neverlate. sorry i'm addressing your posts backwards as i read them. where did Carter say anything about stifling free speech? criticizing and pointing out people's true motives has nothing to do with stifling. he didn't say people can't oppose Obama's policies. He said (paraphrasing) that there are many who are protesting with wreckless intensity that is being driven by a deep seeded hatred and prejudice that forces some to conclude that a black man has no place in the white house. it's these "crazies", as you put it, who parade themselves around voluntarily. Neverlate? i guess you can never be late if you never show up. @Fenngibbon...the Hitler/Bush signs referenced his hasty invasion of Iraq...policy not ethnicity. the Bush/Monkey signs referenced the fact that Bush was and still is an eff-ing idiot...again a reflection of his policies and mental capacityor lack thereof, not ethnicity. You don't recall these types of objections because these that Carter is referring to are from a racial hatred
neverlate:
Since you and too many others use the word "liberal" as a catch-all dagger to throw around like a weapon of hate...maybe you don't know what the word really means: Here's a dictionary definition of the word "liberal" from Webster's Dictionary:
LIBERAL
"favoring reform or progress, specifically political reform tending towards democracy and personal freedom for the individual; progressive"
Think about it. Is this something you no like?
neverlate and diamond girl. Carter wasn't pleading for protection of Obama like some animal rights activist or the "leave britney alone" guy. it is interesting though that you referred to Obama as a "species" as in some kind of "animal". it's that kind of process that Carter was talking about. whether it's conscious or subconsious, you and the other teabaggers need to check yourselves and history to see if it's really his policies that you oppose because these bailouts were initiated by another southern president whom i am ashamed to have shared the same birth region. that being president bush. even the CZAR titles pre-date the Obama administration. And where was the protesting of the Bush family ties with the Bin Ladens and Saddam Hussein himself? the man that G.H. Bush helped to power. clownish food fights. Seriously? So are you actually suggesting that the townhall scream-fests, designed only to disrupt, were an attempt for serious debate as to the role of government? and let's not forget the out-of-pocket, innappropriate and CONDESCENDING "You Lie!" outburst that reminds me of the brat in the back of the classroom that demands any form of attention because he is simply ineffective at attracting or creating solutions or even ideas to the topic of discussion. and finally, diamondgirland, if you really suspected AlanD2 (whom i don't know btw) of being illiterate, why would you ask him in the form of print? think about it and maybe start associating yourself with less trivial and material possesions like diamonds.
neverlate:
The big question in all the social unrest we are experiencing is: What is the ROLE of Government in America? Somehow, and very skillfully the vey concept that the best of all governing systems Democracy, "for the people and by the people" has become distrusted, and through illogic and rant subverted from the mission it so admirably exemplified.
Our system is broken and become discredited not by too much government intervention, but too much government enslavement to the influence of lobbyists, corporate power brokers, the financial monolith of banking and Wall Street. The result: the average American has been forgotten; hard working citizens are suffering personal tragedy and economic catastrophe on a daily basis.
People become desperate and unhinged when the country they live in has failed them so miserably. They will listen to any voice, shout out any slogan that provides a scapegoat or villain for their ills. The Glen Becks out there are priming the pump and mining an audience ready to find an outlet for their rage.
There are catastrophic historical parallels that illustrate what happens to nations whose governments are unwilling or unable to solve the very real crises, which have become a national plague. Germany and Russia in the 20th century are two examples.
The ironic twist in our country here and now is that many believe vehemently that we currently have or are heading towards a Totalitarian government of our own.
The very people, who desperately need the attention of government involvement to fix what's broken and provide solutions to our unresponsive system, now fear and loathe the very hand that can save them.
We need more government of the kind that addresses the needs of everyone in the "United" States of America. It has become a land of special interests where politicians are interested in only those in the top 1% income bracket.
Denial is dangerous. Congress better stop their nap time and throw out the milk and cookies they've been gorging on gifted from the power brokers that they bow down to. Also better dump the elitist kool-aid you've been drinking; it's poisoning America.
So, I guess you think ALL conversations on FOX news are counter productive, as 90% of them consist of exactly what you're spouting about?
I think you could point a finger at Fox, at MSNBC and at the Daily Beast. And the list can go on and on. In some cases it is all in the interest of selling soap, in others it is ideological gamesmanship.
I've heard Rachel Maddow criticize Obama. Chris Matthew too who evens admitted that he voted for Obama. FOX News is in a league of there own. It is getting consistently more and more ridiculously and blatantly biased. it's as if they don't even try to hide it anymore. but then they throw in the slap-in-the-face punchline of "Fair and Balanced/We Report...You Decide" it's gone from laughable, to annoying, to shameful and now on the verge of dangerous. remember, 2nd ammendment doesnt protect insighting riots or hate speech that promotes and results in crime.
The Confederates are trying to destroy Obama in any way they can, and the race card is just one of many they have to play. On the other hand, they are building up quite a backlash against themselves, and I wouldn't even speculate on how it might turn out for them--probably pretty messy.
awesome post mack. You are the only one who can comment on an article written with reason and dignity, and turn it into a partisan shcrill. Good job.
You, too. I know perfectly well that not all the opposition to Obama is about racism, but some of it certainly is. Lush Limberger speaks for that low-rent Confederate group, along with Glenn Beck and people like that.
Ah mcmchugh99 - spoken like the good ole Yankee white trailer park trash you are.
Ah, the people who wish "the South will rise again". Americans killing Americans, what a great time to remember so fondly (ironic comment). Let's hope that radical fringe never sees there closet dreams come to reality.
wait a minute...thinkagain? they have trailer parks up north? sweet? yo mac! i'll call my yankee friends, come up and hang out...we can try to grill porterhouse steaks on the radiator of my buddies prius. we can hand-iron grilled cheese panini's with a smoky blend of government issued Brie and sweaty cheddar velveta. It's the best of both worlds! Cosmopolitans straight from the Beer-Dispenser-Helmet. btw tho mac...i am from texas but i am no confederate by any stretch. be careul who you lump together. i seriously do hope for a harsh, prominent and widespread political backlash on these neo-cons that insist on devolving into "red scare" fear mongering parodies.
This is one of the few articles which managed to articulate the both reality of racial hatred toward Obama AND the under futility of Carters comments regarding it. I found myself torn during by Carters statements thinking: Much of what he is saying has truth but what good does it accomplish saying NOW. Obama is already President; his sole focus and that of his supports should be to make it a successful Presidency. I am not saying let it fester but calling it out when it is already marginalized serves no purpose and is somewhat reactionary. Obama was right to distance himself from Carter on this. He has far bigger fish to fry.
Obama was right to distance himself because the cries of racism are not true. The man was elected president of the United States with a majority of the popular vote, and not a small majority. If there are people who are against him due to him only being half Caucasian, they didn't get out and vote.
I have a racist family, and am working to overcome my distrust of blacks, but every time I make progress, I'm attacked or robbed by one, or my car is stolen by one, or one (make that 3) shoots and kills someone within a mile of my house in an affluent neighborhood in the course of two weeks.
So, I still have racial issues to overcome. How does this fit in to this discussion? I don't consider Obama to be a black man, that's how, and none of my friends who toss about the N word like it's nothing associate him with blacks either. As far as the people I know are concerned, he's a white man who happens to be a little darker than most of us, and has curlier hair than most of us. Jessee Jackson is a black man. Obama is far from it.
I'm sure he'd appreciate how they consider him "almost white".
I think that you are a damn idiot. First you say that "the cries of racism are not true". Then you said that you have a racist family, and are working to overcome your distrust of blacks because you have been victimized by black criminals!
Oh, you poor thing. I've been a crime victim too, but I blame it on drugs like Crack Cocaine and not on the color of the perp who committed the crime. Also, how in the world can you - or your friends "who toss around the N word" NOT consider Obama to be a black man? That don't make any damn sense.
I caught a white kid breaking into my house. A white man raped my ex-girlfriend. There were three white child molesters caught in my neighborhood. A white serial killer - Robert Pickton killed my friend's little sister. Several white priests were arrested for molesting children in my town. A white man tried to force his way into female coworkers house and she narrowly escaped by running out the backdoor. I could go on for quite some time. Do I keep count every time a white person does something bad? No, because I'm white, and I know hundreds of great white people who would never do anything like that. I know there is a criminal element in every society on earth. Keeping count and seeing people are representatives of their race - is racist.
WOW YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!! ok...ignorant to put it more gently but your ignorance is sooo insulting it turns you into more than just that. you have alot more than racial issues to overcome...PLEASE do not have children. i will say it too...your inability to see the cause of the injustice that has surrounded you keeps you blind and broken. your racism has distorted your view so much that you are unable to see the crime for what it is, why it has been committed and furthermore who committed it. these are the acts of individuals and some individuals that have combined to form a small collective. these crimes are not genetic. neither is your ignorance. it has all been developed. and your inability to accept a black man or even a half black man as our president is shocking. you justify his success and attribute it to him being a white man with a tan. you are indeed a sad, sad shell of existence but like the supposed criminals you spoke of i hope to can find and retain some serious help. but i can't say it enough...DO NOT REPRODUCE!!!
It's true Obama is different because he grew up in Hawaii, but the real racists don't see him as different.
roadrunner:
You say you're trying to overcome a history of family racism yet you can't seem to disassociate yourself from being a victim of "black" crime. Street criminals commit crimes to get money. In this country what counts for more is not the color of your skin but the color of your money.
Carter seems to be talking about another time, another place. Not that it didn't exist and still does in certain places.
And it's not likely that Carter would be able to understand someone's vehemently disliking big government.
Give it a rest, Andy. He is talking about NOW. You have seen it in the signs at the teabaggers rallies. Don't pretend that it is just a few who hold hate signs. It seems to be the majority to me.
If you don't like big government, what do you want to do away with? Medicare? Social Security? VA? Without Medicare, we would be in the poorhouse. My husband has had a neck operation, lower back operation, two hip replacements and a knee operation. He is not overweight and has exercised all his life. Can you imagine what all that would have cost us? He also has hearing aide from the VA which would cost $4000 if we had to pay it.
Wait til you are retired. You will change your tune when you have toface the reality of healthcare costs.
newswoman:
Without the government programs (and many others) that benefit Americans...we'd be nothing but a Third-World-Country. With people like AndreainNY, we see a rise of alien forces...alien to what this country has always stood for. These people stink of inhumanity.
Mr.Crouch makes a cogent analysis of the toxic environment surrounding the presidency of Obama. Although a fringe may be racists and most vociferous, the majority represent a deep frustration with government and mistrust of public officials perceived as being unresponsive to the daily needs and fears of the American people. Less we focus on the minority of haters, we'll lose track of the important dialogue that needs to take place to take us out of this perilous predicament. As an ardent supporter of Obama, I have been frustrated by some of his policies and my perception of the lack of courage on the part of the Democratic majority. It's an easy leap, if one were to be a cynic, to think that both sides of the aisle have been bought and paid for by the moneyed interests. As a multiethnic, my venting is motivated purely by my perception that the elected officials care less about our needs than their desire to remain in office.
Good post.
yeah, some good points but Carter didn't say that the majority of opposition was motivated by racism. He said there were many(not most of) and he refferred specifically to those with blatantly obvious expressions of hate-speech picket-sign-passion with, as i saw early on, a rage buried beneath a kerosene gloss, over fiery eyes that, if you look close enough, blaze in the shape of a cross.
I have come to the same conclusion, DrGianrico. I, too support Obama, but I don't think he or Congress are in charge. Follow the money.
Someone said it today - "Americans demand the ability to criticize their president." Trying to shut off debate by conflating people opposed to Obama with a few crazies will backfire on the people in power, including Obama.
neverlate: I think it will backfire on the crazies long before Obama is affected.
The introduction of race into the argument is clearly a strategy by the Left to suppress the debate that they are losing. Loosely tossing out the charge of racism will eventually result in the Left being push back into the closet they have been on for the last 20 years. Keep it up, this is why you guys can't govern,
How?
No one listens to them. And, so, it's already "backfired" on them, so to speak.
I hate to break it to you but they're a fringe. Small group. Tiny. They don't matter.
Focusing on them is just another distraction. It fuels the left's partisan anger against them but accomplishes little.
neverlate: Obama already disagrees with Carter, so how does it backfire on him? I don't understand your logic.
Despite attempts by many on the Left and Right to force this president to focus on divisive race issues, he has steadfastly refused to do so. And those fair-minded Americans who elected him have taken notice, so I doubt any of them would punish him for something he rightly refused to do.
Why would an objective non-racist vote against Obama because Jimmy Carter, whom Obama disagrees with, called some people racist?
Due to no fault of his own. Obama has smartly side stepped this issue. But there is nothing the media prefers to talk around more then the race issue. It will sink his agenda
I agree with you, oakely, however if every objection to his programs and policies is met with accusations of racism by his defenders, then I see that as diminishing his presidency. True racism has now been cheapened by these kinds of attacks. I suspect that Martin Luther King would not have been comfortable with this turn of events.........
Oakley! your one mistake, that i know of at least, is associating neverlate with logic. it's ok. benefit of the doubt and all that but it's getting repetative as far as pointing out his formulaic, predictable and spoonfed stance on topics. regergitated rhetoric from the right wing relics. i mean it's getting too easy. neverlate says, "due to no fault of his own. (as if to say he "something happened to him but he had nothing to do with it") Obama has smartly side stepped this issue." (as if to say he has made the conscious CHOICE to take action regarding a situation resulting in an effect)
neverlate is proving to be more and more contradictory and illogically incoherent the more he drinks.
@neverlate: It never ceases to amaze me how you righties can twist things around. You guys are the ones who introduced race into the argument, not the ones on the left! You are also the ones who are trying so hard to suppress the debate. So go ahead and keep this up, and you guys will not only lose the mid-term election in 2010 - like you did the last one, but you will also lose the next general election in 2012!
I agree with Crouch's thoughts on all this. I wish he would write more for TDB.
I like this article. I believe a former president should have more class and dignity to not toil in the waters of race.
He's the classic Liberal racist who thinks of African Americans as less capable, and requiring his defense..
neverlate: You're projecting again.
ugh.....liberal racist? really? and how is he "toiling in the waters of race" and how is speaking out against racism classless and undignified?
would you call a former vice presidents public defense of torture dignified and classy?
Jimmy Carter is the WORST president of the 20th century. We are still cleaning up his mess in Iran, Afghanistan, etc. He also allowed AIDS into this country by improrting all of Castro's diseased criminals. Nice play Shakespeare
Exactly...Miami was in shambles for 10 years cleaning up the mess from the Marielito boat lift to freedom.....Castro emptied out the prisons and insane asylums and shipped them to Florida. It was disastrous. He needs to stick to boiling peanuts.
GEORGE BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT THAT WE'VE HAD IN OUR ENTIRE HISTORY. SO NO PRESIDENT BEFORE HIM COULD HAVE POSSIBLY BEEN WORSE!!!
elldeen: I agree, but you don't have to shout...
By far Georgey Boy was and is the worst president in our history. dangerous in his ineptitude. embarrasing in his failures. whether it was sept 11, iraq, afghanistan, anthrax, katrina, corporate welfare, the failed education system, secret spending to manipulate the national debt, security breaches alllowed to leak and ultimately endanger the lives of federal agents, secret prisons, the list goes on
Stanley Crouch is the best commentator anywhere on things like this. "Condescending" was the word one of your commentators wrote about Mr. Carter and that's dead on. He recently condescended to lend us his wisdom on the Middle East which was to depict the lone democracy in the Middle East, Israel , as an apartheid state (plainly not) and give a gift pass to the Hamas terrorists and their likes. Iran ought to hire him as their spokesperson.
are you joking barack the magic negro, terrorist fist jab, he's a Muslim, he's an Arab, he wants to indoctrinate my children, he wants to kill my grandma, he isn't a real citizen,socialist, communist, anti-Christ
CARTER IS NOT WRONG HE IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT (cant believe i said that)
why is it so hard for people to think racism still exist its only been 40 years since segregation, most adults grew up in segregated societies
You tend to find what you are looking for.
I worked for the obama campaign in hendersonville, nc. prior to this election cycle, 2008, the African-American turnout had been 350 persons or less. I sat in living room after living room with this community of hard working men and women and heard the same story over and over - receiving calls and threats that if they voted, they would lose their jobs, their medical assistance, food assistance, "we know who you are", "we know where you live", and on and on.
The team I was a member of worked hard to convince this community that they could vote and would be protected. We had a system in place to challenge any voting irregularity on the spot. When all the votes were tallied on election night, over six thousand African-Americans had voted for Obama. Never in the county's history had so many shown up at the voting booth.
I am a white, Anglo Saxon, electrical engineer by profession and have consulted to various paper mills, power plants, pharmaceutical companies all over the South East United States for over twenty five years. Right up to this day, I regularly am approached and "felt out" to determine if my sympathies are with their own racist sympathies. I am not talking about blue collar men and women. These are other white collar professionals, male(mostly) and female(few in the field still) who still harbor a deep mistrust and even hatred for African-Americans always, and anyone not Christian, in general.
You can't bullshit me. Just check out the Southern Poverty Law Center for up to date information and statistics. Checkout the number of hate groups in the South East US. Scarier is that they are every where now, a huge up surge nation wide during the Bush years, well documented by this excellent organization. See for yourself: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp
Good post.
Thanks for your contribution here and your hard work during the election.
Good comment, but who amongst the reps will believe you?
Great article, once again, Mr. Crouch. I disagree with you that Obama is possibly a "genius" but I agree with you on damn near everything else.
"now little more than a small, vile, and pint-sized ice sculpture....i have to disagree on the "size" description!...i've lived in missouri for 14 years and i;ve never seen a more smug self aggrandizing gorup of "whites" in my whole life!!...from no teeth, no education,no jobs,no self esteem,no discernible "BRIGHT" future but DAMNED SURE that niggers and wetbacks were a plague upon the WHITE man sent by god...and we are in 2009 !!!...carter speaks the truth and irregardless of whether anyone wants to hear it or not it must be talked about!!!!...the best commercial ever on predjudice was the one superimposing the image of a child over that of an adult while the soundtrack of the adult ranting about race played on...obama"s in the white house...so what...the furor over the insurance is fueled by RACISM !!!...if that was bush or even granddaddy McCain there would be a little wrangling but nothing like what we"re seeing...wilson calling obama a liar...no one said s to bush as he talked about saddam and alquaeda !!!!...if you think predjudice is a soon to be thing of the past you need to come to the HEARTLAND and get a whiff of what they"re spreading around here...kinda smells like fertilizer
I use to be an admire, but when you falsely impute millions of people who are only concerned about the direction of their government just because a few crazies made their presence noticed I lose all respect.
No one is saying that everyone who opposes Obama is a racist - you are defensive and hear that even when it's not said. However, very significant percentage of Obama haters are racist - why can't that be admitted. It doesn't mean everyone else is. Why did 1/3 of New Jersey conservatives answer "Maybe" to a question over whether Obama was the Anti-Christ? I would guess about 5-10 percent of Americans are racist - that makes 15-40 million people. That is significant. Some of them are foaming at the mouth mad and so frightened at Obama that the possibility that they will lash out in violence increases every day.
What percentage are racist? The media zooms in on every nut in a broad crowd and hints that they are representitive of the protest. This is nothing but a lie. Obama is a big-government Democrat. There are an awful lot of people in this country, I would venture the count to be well more than half, who are leery of big government. Add to this unprecendebted "red ink" as far as the eye can see, and you have the basis of the protest against Obama and the Dems.
"What percentage are racist?" Well, it depends on how you define that word. If it takes a white hood in the closet or a white militia membership, then very few.
I think this is fairer. According to a July CBS/NY Times poll, 5% of people stated that they would NEVER vote for a black candidate. This is self admitted racism which is lower than real racism because many people never admit it. When asked about people they know, the percentage went up dramatically. Let's just say it's 5% to be cautious - that means that 15 million Americans are racist. That's a lot of people.
It would be like lumping in all liberals in with Code Pink. The only purpose that serves is to fuel the anger and provide fodder for an argument itching to be had.
If it's an argument people want, the racist fringe is theirs for the picking.
Throwing around the "racist" accusation waters it down to the point where it is meaningless. Since it's a serious charge, and should remain one, it should be more carefully used. Why would we ever want something as serious as racism to lose its significance?
You exaggerate everything to suit your argument. i have no 'respect' for that.
So Obama has bigger fish to fry? Really?
Guess what? Obama has not caught a damn one!
I think it is awesome that we have the first black POTUS. It shows that we have come a long way in spite of the lingering racism that has fueled the pre-and post election controversies with the fearmongers (such as Beck and Limbaugh), the Birthers, the teabaggers, and the astroturfers. Obama didn't need them or their votes to get to where he is today, and this is a fact they just can't stand, since he has demonstrated that anyone can now become the president.
Obama is a good looking, intelligent and classy guy who remains above the fray - and is focusing his attention where it belongs - on enacting Health Care Reform, and fixing the economy. No matter what the haters say, his intentions are good - and his heart is in the right place. He is only trying to help people; and to clean up the mess that Dubya left him after 8 long terrible years in office.
So Obama doesn't have time to fully engage the hostile and mean spirited trogs of the far right, and their hysteria over the fact that he is the first black Commander-in-Chief. He is a better man for that, and shows up the haters for who they are - a bunch of bigots who are trying their damnedest to bring him down.
Deny it as they may, but the haters might as well have the word "racist" tattooed on their foreheads. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a damn duck. They can also call Obama a racist until they are blue in the face. But that on its face is stupid and senseless if the man is bi-racial.
So can you say "Projection"?
I think the problem is that Blacks (and even Democrats) as a whole are so utterly "other" for a certain element of our population that they have no concept that they share anything with "those people" making it very easy to vilify "them." Some may have no notion that race plays any role in their vilification, but most assuredly it does and its easy to feel depressed about the whole mess. But then I walk past the historical marker I pass every day noting Margaret Douglass's imprisonment for teaching free black children to read. And I look at my son who is sorry that he will be a few months too young to vote for Obama in 2012.
We have few problems that education, time & economic prosperity cannot improve.
While I believe that Carter is right, there are times when being right is reasonably unimportant. Speaking truth to power is one thing. Speaking truth to the less powerful is another.
AgathaX - Interesting point. The more 'other' some one is seen to be the less 'human' they become. Demonization is not far away after that.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
That's one of the plusses of being an ex-president - you can speak the truth, but no one needs to really pay attention. It's a distraction for Obama. Also, what Carter said about Shrub was true, too.
I've seen some serious, face contorting anger amongst my Repub buds this past half a year. Racism's a part of it, no doubt about it.
Carter always speaks the truth about very sensitive issues, guaranteeing that he will be resisted by those the truth hurts most.
It has always surprised me that Carter, our most religious president, which Americans profess to want in their president, is so vilified by these 'Christians
Just because he spoke of the treatment of the Palestinians by the Isrealis as bad, he is considered anti-semitic. (You can be anti-Israeli without being anti-semitic. Israel is a country.) I have spoken to Americans who have lived over there and they say it is true that the Israelis are cruel to the Palestinians in many instances, and many of these people do not like the Israelis because of that.
Thank you.
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