The National Review’s Jonah Goldberg says that instead of transcending race, Obama and his supporters are using it to silence critics:
Obama has set off a case of full-blown race dementia among precisely the crowd that swears Obama is leading us out of the racial wilderness. Rather than shrink, the tumor of racial paranoia is metastasizing, pressing down on the medulla oblongata or whatever part of the brain that, when poked, causes one to hallucinate, conjure false memories and write astoundingly insipid things. For instance, a writer for Slate sees racism when anyone notes that Barack Obama is – wait for it – skinny. What this portends for Fat Albert is above my pay grade.
We need to rewrite those old Schoolhouse Rock cartoons, because now virtually any adjective, noun, verb, or adverb aimed at Barack Obama that is not obsequiously sycophantic or wantonly worshipful runs the risk of being decried as racist. Community organizer? Racist! Mentioning his middle name? Racist! Arrogant? Racist! Palling around with a (white) terrorist? Racist! Celebrity? Racist! Cosmopolitan? Racist! This? Racist! That? Racist! The other thing? Oh man, that’s really racist.
Goldberg’s point is that criticism of Barack Obama in and of itself isn’t racist — and that’s absolutely true. At the same time, I’m sure Goldberg would agree, support for Obama — even by conservatives who have endorsed him – isn’t due to the color of his skin, either:
But I think, you know, what`s annoying is people are saying how this is a sign about all these conservatives moving towards Obama when in reality these guys admit up front that`s the only reason they`re thinking about Obama, is because he`s black [How odd that Goldberg didn't and hasn't named a single conservative who cited Obama's race as the only reason to support him. -GB]. If he were white they would say, “Oh, no, he`s too liberal.” It has nothing to do with the fact that he has somehow — whether he`s a conservative or anything like that.
Oh, wait, now I think I get it. If you’re a conservative and you criticize Obama, you’re unfairly called a racist. But if you’re a conservative and you support Obama, you’re a racist. And that’s completely unfair to conservatives, who don’t use race to divide people, as Goldberg pointed out over a year ago:
Lots of people today forget – or were too young to realize – what an amazingly salient issue crime used to be in national politics. The Willie Horton ad (which I think was perfectly defensible, but you folks can debate that without me) is remembered today as purely an example of evil Republican racial politics. But what’s forgotten is that at least as salient as the race issue (and I would argue much more so) was the crime issue, which is why Horton’s face was beamed into peoples’ homes in the first place.
Via Hot Air.
