I have little doubt that President Carter is correct to point
out that some people oppose all things Obama primarily because they can't
get past his race. That's undeniably regrettable. But to suggest that these
people's numbers are "many" is to make an unverifiable assumption.
Maybe it's now appropriate and necessary to explain that I think
Carter feels compelled to delve into the subject of Obama and race because
Carter seeks a measure of atonement for himself.
Few know it, but Carter ran for governor of Georgia in 1970 to
succeed Lester Maddox, a man labeled by most political observers of the time
as a segregationist. I knew Maddox personally. Prior to his death in 2003, I
persuaded him to offer an apology of sorts for his actions of the 1960s.
Then he promptly denied he had said what he told me when his words appeared
in a newspaper column I wrote.
There will always be debate among Maddox's friends and
acquaintances whether he was a devotee of states' rights, or just a bigot.
It's important to know that Gov. Maddox appointed a great number of blacks
to state government positions. Nevertheless, what mattered the most in that
era was that the South was not fully racially integrated, and Maddox was a
symbol and a rallying point for those in Georgia who opposed forced federal
desegregation of housing and schools.
Enter now the "atonement" concept. There isn't a living
political expert from that bygone era who doesn't know that gubernatorial
candidate Carter -- running against the progressive Carl Sanders -- said
many times in public appearances that he was a Lester Maddox Democrat. That
doesn't mean Carter was spewing racial epithets. It does mean that he
"played the race card" himself to get elected.
What's unfortunate is that Carter now has chosen to flip that
race card over and play it for the opposite effect he sought a generation
ago. Though no racist himself, Carter now perhaps is seeking atonement for
his campaign rhetoric of years past.
But that doesn't explain why he presumes that those who oppose
ObamaCare or other potential government expansion programs are racists.
Can't people justifiably feel that Obama has become something different as
president than what he promised as a presidential candidate? Remember that
more than enough Americans cared little enough about Obama's race to elect
him president.
I won't stop pointing out to Carter critics that he inherited a
dismal economy from Republican President Gerald Ford and his economic
advisor Alan Greenspan. But I wish President Carter had another Jody Powell
around these days to help counsel him about what "observations" to go public
with. Otherwise, the instinct for atonement can divide us more than unite
us.