It was recently proposed to me by a friend that the on-going interest in Obama’s citizenship, specifically doubts thereof, was a sign of racism. He told me that were Obama white, this would not be an issue. Furthermore, he said that many criticisms of Obama’s official performance and the questions surrounding his background (Columbia transcripts, college thesis, etc.) were also indicators of latent racism.
Well, of course it is.
No one could possibly have any questions about Obama without being motivated by discrimination based solely on race, right?
Now, I don’t believe that Obama was born in Kenya or Indonesia or anywhere other than Hawaii, but I don’t view those that question the issue as racist. Are some of those people racist? Probably. All or even most of them? No, I don’t think so. I also believe that the Donald of Trump is simply playing this card to gin up interest in his run for the Presidency, and unfortunately, he’s found traction with it. Numerous polls have shown evidence that wide swaths of the American public question or flat-out don’t believe that Obama was born in this country.
These polls (scroll to the bottom at the link) are interesting from a sociological point of view, but I believe the point to be moot. Obama is our president, and that is that.
What irks me is the automatic assumption that any disbelief regarding Obama’s legitimacy or criticisms of his job in the Oval Office are best (or only) explained by racism. In my mind this is at best a deflection to keep from answering hard questions concerning Obama’s performance, and at worst, is simply a means of dismissing whole arguments outright, while simultaneously painting half the country as bigoted ignoramuses with a very broad brush.
Saying that “were Obama white, this wouldn’t happen” is an empty statement as that is not the case, and any conjecture on those grounds is pure speculation. This is kinda-sorta similar to my favorite fallacy of logic that I call the Hypothetical Justification. If you can imagine the other guy doing something (i.e. Fox News broadcasting a story on Obama being a Muslim), then you can do the opposing equivalent (i.e. MSNBC broadcasting a story on BusHitler being a demonic alien from an alternate dimension). The assumption is made and accepted quite quickly that if Obama’s skin color were a few shades lighter, and he had a “normal American name”, then these issues and allegations would be non-existant because the Right is, you know, racist. They are making accusations based on hypothetical and wholly non-existant circumstances. They are calling us racist because they can imagine that we wouldn’t be so concerned about Obama’s place of birth, his college years, or his so-far stint in the White House if he were white.
That sure is convenient, isn’t it?
Of course, the only effective counter to this line of supposed reasoning is to point out the gaping flaw in it’s premise; namely the unrealistic idea that in an alternate universe, complete with a white Obama (whose name would be Barry Hugh O’Bannigan), the Right would be more accepting of the man and would never dream in a thousand years of questioning his record.
Good luck with that, by the way. I’m thinking that you’ll need it.
And let’s not forget the Tea Party. Racist bigots, the lot of them! Every one of those flag-waving imbeciles is a dyed-in-the-wool racist and they have simply traded in their white hoods for a broader color scheme that now includes blue and red.
“Where were they when BusHitler was running up huge deficits?”
The same place the Anti-War Left is now: Quietly grousing amongst themselves about their guy in office.
RACISM!
“Why do they insist on demanding policies that are against their own “best” interests?”
Depends on how you view “best interests”. Why do the Rich Leftists demand more taxation that is against their own “best” interests?
RACISM!
Of course none of this would be happening if we had Barry Hugh O’Bannigan in the Oval Office, because then these racist and politically marginalized goobers wouldn’t feel so threatened by Socialism were a blindingly white man selling it.
Right?
Yup.
Whatever you say, man…
Just another way to avoid discussing the fact that somewhere around half the country isn’t taking to Obama as much as they should.
Silly, stupid racists.
