Who's the Racist Now?

Carol Platt Liebau | September 22, 2009 3:18 PM

Remember when Maureen Dowd heard a voice in her head, adding "boy" to Joe Wilson's call-out of "You lie!" to the President? She inferred Wilson was racist, based on the word she herself had supplied.

One wonders what Ms. Dowd will say to Jimmy Carter, now that video demonstrates that Carter -- who accused Obama's political adversaries of racism -- himself referred to Barack Obama as "this black boy" during an interview with Jim Lehrer at the Democratic National Convention.

Do I believe that we should all assume thatJimmy Carter is a racist because of this embarrassing and inappropriate use of words? Actually, no. It should take something a little more indicative of a truly bigoted heart than this admittedly wrong and awful mistake to accuse someone of harboring hate against others based only on their skin color -- that is, unless the accusation is being made just to score political points (ahem, President Carter and Dowd).

Let's hope that MoDo and Carter have learned their lesson. Those who thrive by waving the bloody shirt of racism can be felled by it, as well.

They both can now apologize to Joe Wilson -- because measuring by Dowd's and Carter's own yardstick, Carter's behavior is infinitely more racist than anything Wilson did. (But don't hold your breath.)

Just another example of why the "racist" "gotcha" game is so petty, so worthless, and so unproductively divisive.