By Scott Tibbs, November 27, 2013
The election of Barack Obama was supposed to mark a major step forward in race relations, but Rush Limbaugh was right when he predicted it would do no such thing. It has made things worse, and that should be no surprise.
Enter the latest hand-wringing about racism and the "racist backlash" against the election of Barack Obama, courtesy of the New York Times. Racism is worse than ever, Leftists would have us believe.
Well, race baiting is worse than ever, that's for sure - and this could have easily been predicted. For five years, we have heard the constant drumbeat of claims that opposition to Obama's policies are due to the fact that conservatives cannot stand the fact that a black man is in the White House. It's all nonsense.
Does anyone really believe that if Hillary Clinton or John Edwards had been elected President in 2008 and proposed legislation identical to the "Affordable Care Act" that Republicans would not have opposed ClintonCare or EdwardsCare just as aggressively as they opposed ObamaCare?
Far from being an answer to racism or an improvement to race relations, Obama's election has made things worse because Obama's race has been used as a cudgel against any criticisms of Obama. If you disagree with Obama, it cannot be because you have legitimate philosophical objections to Obama's policies. No, it is because you are racist.
If Obama was serious about improving race relations and opposing racism, he could put a stop to this by denouncing the shameless race-baiting that happens within his own party. He would tell his supporters privately to cut it out and admonish them publicly when they do not. The fact that he does not illustrates that he supports such irresponsible tactics, and that is just as guilty of race-baiting as his worst supporters.
If anything, all this hand-wringing about "racism" and all of the shameless race baiting that has followed the election of Obama has enabled real racism to flourish. By overusing the accusation of racism, Obama apologists weaken the charge and enable real racists to squeak by as a weary public starts ignoring the accusations. This does not help anyone, and Obama is more to blame for this situation than anyone.
