White president would never hear 'You lie!'

Jimmy Carter is right: Racism behind the attacks on Obama

September 17, 2009

BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
Say what you will, but former president Jimmy Carter is too old to lie. At 85, he's seen the best and worst of human nature.

So, when he says the "You lie!" shouted at President Obama during his address to Congress last week was "based on racism," he is speaking with wisdom.

The heckler, Rep. Joe Wilson, has apologized to the president, and the South Carolina Republican was formally rebuked by the U.S. House on Tuesday.

However, Carter's comments echoed what a lot of African Americans are thinking.

Would Wilson have heckled a Reagan, or a Bush or a Clinton while these white men were delivering a speech before Congress?

A lot of people believe that Wilson would have bit his tongue before he hurled an insult at a white president.

Really, it was an unbelievable moment.

Wilson shouted that the president of the United States was a liar before the entire Congress and the millions of people who watched the speech on television.

Think about that.

President George Bush was so wrong about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, he should have been impeached.

Thousands of young lives were at stake, and not one elected official ever got angry enough to call Bush a liar during a public speech.

No matter how bad things were going in this country, Bush was respected as the president of the United States.

A clear double standard
Carter is daring to suggest that Wilson's behavior was steeped in the old Southern creed that says a black man is not equal to a white man.

During a critical address to the Congress, Obama was not given the same level of respect his predecessors were given.

Some of his Republican opponents twittered. Some waved signs and booklets. Some sat stone-faced.

Wilson shouted, "You lie!"

"It [racism] has bubbled up to the surface," Carter said, and pointed out that many white people "not just in the South" believed that African Americans are not qualified to lead.

Only Wilson knows what prompted him to act the way he did.

But given the rancor that led up to the president's speech, I'm not surprised that this Southerner lost control of himself.

After all, the South did not go for Obama.

In fact, an expert with the Washington-based Pew Research Center put it this way: The South has seceded a second time.

But the Obama White House will have nothing to do with a debate involving race.

"The president does not believe that criticism comes based on the color of his skin," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

That response doesn't take into account that when Obama ran for the White House, he was dispatched a security detail earlier than any other candidate.

Or that near the end of the campaign, racists started showing up at his opponent's rallies.

Unfortunately, the passionate debate over health care has also provided a platform for people who cling to a white supremacy doctrine.

These people show up at so-called Tea Parties with racist signs that depict Obama as a Nazi and a witch doctor.

Hate disguised as partisanship
Recently, I was driving home and inadvertently tuned to a conservative talk radio program.

The vitriolic attacks on the president's health care plan were unnerving. Callers referred to Obama as everything but president.

Still, Carter's truthfulness will get him nowhere.

In kinder circles, the former president will be characterized as an aging man who sees America as it was, not as it is.

Conservative talk show hosts and GOP leaders will show no mercy.

But Obama knows there are still a lot of white folks who are having a difficult time accepting that there is a black family in the White House. These people condemn everything from the color of his dog to first lady Michelle Obama's shorts.

Because Obama chooses to ignore the racism shown toward him, that doesn't mean racism doesn't exist.

As a people, we pay a heavy price when we do not confront racism.

And it becomes harder for someone like Carter to have an honest conversation about race.

The old man told a painful and unpopular truth.

I hope the White House doesn't turn this truth into a lie.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/mitchel...itch17.article