The Democrats, led by certain members of Congress and former President Jimmy Carter, have developed a new tactic to dismiss growing displeasure with President Obama's policies. As his approval ratings continue to drop, hesitancy over health care has snarled the plan's progress, and tens of thousands marched on Washington this past weekend, the left has decided the entire opposition can be dismissed by the obfuscating charge of racism.
Just Tuesday, former President Carter told "NBC Nightly News," "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American."
No one wants to fall in with racists, to heed racially motivated comments, or to be lumped in with their kind -- so, to President Carter's thinking, what choice do we have but to ignore the discontent of any American and praise the administration blindly?
This sort of mindset is not only ignorant, but actually dangerous. A former president of the United States has equated opposition to nationalized health care, government bailouts, and out-of-control spending, to racist motives solely because the sitting president is black. Is that the sort of progress we need in this country? Progress where we can no longer have a national debate because of skin color? That's not the sort of progress President Obama has advocated.
President Carter has failed to account for the fact that millions of Americans are simply fed up with the big government policies coming out of Washington -- the same policies they denounced under President Clinton, at times under Republican Presidents Bush, and certainly from a certain President Carter. Perhaps Carter could take the time to recall conservative frustration when Republican President George W. Bush's administration spent too much for their liking, or liberal frustration on social issues. Were those concerns racist? Of course not!
In that same interview, Carter also chastened us that, "No matter who he is or how much we disagree with his policies, the president should be treated with respect."
It seems to me that the ones forgetting that creed have not been the millions who fear government interference in their insurance plans, children's education, and small businesses. No, the one who seems to forget that is none other than President Carter himself.