The elephant in the living room

Okay. Everybody's in a kerfuffle because Jimmy Carter said that most of the criticism directed at the President is about race. I'm glad he said it because that is the "elephant in the living room" and it took a Southern white gentleman with nothing to lose to put that reality on the table.

But here's what President Obama himself had to say:

Are there people out there who don't like me because of race? I'm sure there are. That's not the overriding issue here. I think there are people who are anti-government. I think there's been a long-standing debate in this country that is usually that much more fierce during times of transition, or when presidents are trying to bring about big changes.

I mean, things that were said about FDR were pretty similar to things that were said about me. 'He's a communist, he's a socialist.' Things that were said about Ronald Reagan when he was trying to reverse some of the New Deal programs, you know, were pretty vicious as well.

Well, he really had to say that, didn't he? Can you imagine what Obama's enemies would do if he ever once, even slightly, played the "race card"*? He knows that and he won't do it. That doesn't change the fact that a lot of the hysteria out there is about race - especially all that nonsense about people keeping their children home from school to keep them from seeing their president give a speech on television.

* I really want to recommend an article entitled "What Kind of Card is Race?" which is subtitled "The Absurdity (and Consistency) of White Denial" by Tim Wise. It is very, very insightful and illuminating.
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