Maureen Dowd is an amazing women with a remarkable acuity of hearing and the ability to read other people’s intentions. As everyone now knows by now, Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) rudely shouted out “You lie!” as President Barack Obama argued that his health care would not cover illegal aliens. Wilson quickly apologized to the the White House for the outburst — an apology accepted by the President.
However, Dowd says, “…fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!” What makes this feat extraordinary is that most people watching on television could barely hear anything, but the growns and boos in response tp Wilson. In addition, Dowd was immediately able to know which particular representative made the remark. Her instant recall and in depth knowledge of all 435 Congression representatives allowed her to know that what she describes as a “milquetoast Republican backbencher ” is a racist. I respectfully submit that Dowd hearing was largely improved by her later by reading of either, Left-leaning blog posts or the reports of the NY Times research department. Dowd’s reading of Joe Wilson’s intentions probably are more revealing of Dowd than of Wilson.
Earlier in his speech, Obama perhaps began the attack when he said.
“The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.”
Everyone knows that Sarah Palin is associated with the death panel charge. Would someone with as acute hearing as Dowd, whose head is tilted with different political perspective, hear at the end of the statement, “It is lie, plain and simple, bxxxx]?”
A Leadership Moment
Sunday, September 20th, 2009It used to be the conventional wisdom that an African-American would find it impossible to become president. The analysis held that an African-American person who was not threatening to whites would not be appear sufficiently authentic to the African-American community. The more a potential black candidate modulated his persona to make white America comfortable, the less support he or she would likely garner from African-American community. Shelbe Steele was the most persuasive proponent of this view.
President Barak Obama shattered this analysis in November 2008. Whether through his personal charm, intellect, oratory skills, or political organization, Obama has manged to remain a hip celebrity while energizing white Americans on his behalf. In many ways, Obama’s greatest contribution is to demonstrate America’s movement past preoccupation with race. Obama made Americans proud that they could support an African-American candidate.
The current argument offered by former President Jimmy Carter and even the usually level-headed Bill Cosby is that much of the opposition to Obama’s health care plan is rooted in racism. This does not make statistical sense since Obama entered office with nearly 70% approval and now his medical care plan has less than majority support. Clearly some people who were sufficient unbiased to approve of Obama’s presidential performance at one time now disagree with Obama’s medical care policies. The casual broad brush of racism is pernicious and toxic, and ultimately undermines the historic importance of the Obama presidency.
Long after the results of the medical care controversy are resolved, the nation’s psyche will either overcome these racism charges or the notion of perpetual American racism will ingrain further itself among some. If the racism charge is allowed to gain currency, the nation will be become more polarized on racial grounds. Many Americans who fancy themselves as unprejudiced are likely be insulted by the charge.
The time is now for President Obama to exercise leadership before charges of racial animosity are allowed to undermine any potential unity in the country. It is incumbent on Obama to speak out against such a path in an unequivocal way. Obama must devote an public speech to making clear that there is room for disagreement with him outside the scope of racism. He should marshal his considerable rhetorical skills to calm the racial waters. He should warn that he will not allow charges of racism to undermine his presidency or his goals.
When Obama’s candidacy was jeopardized by his 20-year association with the radical minister Jeremiah Wright, Obama quickly delivered a special speech to explain his views on race and cauterize the Wright’s wound on this reputation. At this point, people like Jimmy Carter, who destroyed his own presidency, are undermining the transformative nature of the Obama presidency. Now is a time for an Obama leadership moment.
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