Chicago Tribune Editorial: Exploring Race: A black man is president, oh my....

Chicago Tribune Editorial: Exploring Race: A black man is president, oh my....
Copyright by The Chicago Tribune
September 14, 2009
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/race/2009/09/a-black-man-is-president-oh-my.html


In her Saturday column, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd said that she had been loath to attribute any of this summer’s “shrieking lunacy” against President Obama and healthcare reform to race:

“I tended to agree with some Obama advisers that Democratic presidents typically have provoked a frothing response from paranoids — from Father Coughlin against F.D.R. to Joe McCarthy against Truman to the John Birchers against J.F.K. and the vast right-wing conspiracy against Bill Clinton.

But [Joe] Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.”

I understand Dowd’s reluctance to see race. Most people would rather that race not be a factor. The color of one’s skin? Haven’t we evolved to the point where it’s a non-issue? Besides, if you’re a white person who acknowledges race in any way, you might come off looking like anything from a racist to Commie, liberal sympathizer. If you’re a black person who points it out, you might appear as though you’re succumbing to some type victimhood or trying to exploit it for some personal gain.

We all would like to think we’ve evolved beyond those thickets. But we haven’t.

How many of the disgruntled white people who attended this summer’s town hall meetings on healthcare were angry because they sincerely wanted to get to the truth of reform (to make sure their tax dollars are spent a certain way)? Or,how many were ticked off because a black man is leading the charge?

When people talk about “taking back their America,” or call Obama a “socialist,” or “Nazi,” or “communist,” how many are simply using euphemistic language to cover up the real word that they want to use, the one begins with an ‘N.’

Asked about Dowd’s claim, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told CNN on Sunday that race is not the factor.

"I don't think the president believes that people are upset because of the color of his skin," he said. "I think people are upset because on Monday we celebrate the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse that caused a financial catastrophe unlike anything we've ever seen."

I understand the White House wanting to tamp down the notion that the uproar and incivility of late have anything to do with the color of the president’s skin. He has vowed to be president to all people.
How big of a factor race is, is not always quantifiable. But that does not negate its presence nor its potential to fester.

Maybe it’s time for the President to deliver a race speech similar to the one candidate Obama gave in March 2008 in Philadelphia. This time it could be on exactly how post-racial we are.

What do you think?