I have already touched on the rising racism within the Republican Party - or at least a more visible and dangerous form racism from that of the past - and Barack Obama seems to be the epitome of the fears of these insecure "patriotic Americans:" the loss of white privilege and white domination of all aspects of U.S. society. Walking around New York City today and this evening, yes, the city is definitely more racially diverse than it was say 30 years ago. But what is wrong with that? Nothing in my opinion. Yet this changing population nation wide scares the Hell out of the GOP base which wants everything and everyone to reflect their white bread world. Maureen Dowd has a great column in the New York Times that skewers South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson that is too good to not mention and in it she looks at the underlying racism behind this summer of madness on the far right, Here are some highlights:*
The normally nonchalant Barack Obama looked nonplussed, as Nancy Pelosi glowered behind. Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men’s club — Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at a president who didn’t. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!
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The congressman, we learned, belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, led a 2000 campaign to keep the Confederate flag waving above South Carolina’s state Capitol and denounced as a “smear” the true claim of a black woman that she was the daughter of Strom Thurmond, the ’48 segregationist candidate for president. Wilson clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber.
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I’ve been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer — the frantic efforts to paint our first black president as the Other, a foreigner, socialist, fascist, Marxist, racist, Commie, Nazi; a cad who would snuff old people; a snake who would indoctrinate kids — had much to do with race. . . . . But Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.
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Even if he and the coterie of white male advisers around him don’t choose to openly acknowledge it, this president is the ultimate civil rights figure — a black man whose legitimacy is constantly challenged by a loco fringe. For two centuries, the South has feared a takeover by blacks or the feds. In Obama, they have both.
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The New York Daily News likewise had commentary on Joe Wilson and those of his ilk. Here are some highlights:
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A class act he is not, but South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's boorish behavior during President Obama's speech on health reform more than earned him his 15 minutes of infamy. It is understandable that he chose - or as some suggested, was told - to bellow "You lie!" when the President was explaining for the umpteenth time that undocumented immigrants would not be covered under health care legislation. After all, Wilson's extreme anti-immigrant positions are well known.
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Congressman Joe Wilson's outburst is not only a massive breach of decorum," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, "but the latest example of how race-baiting and immigrant bashing have become standard fare for hard-right elements of the Republican Party." One has to wonder if Wilson and his ilk are intent on committing political suicide - and in the process taking down with them the entire GOP - or if their prejudices are so deep that they just cannot help themselves.
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[E]ven if Wilson and his cohorts do not like it, Latinos are the fastest-growing group of new voters in the nation. And they can be sure that mistreating, dehumanizing and disrespecting Latinos - and immigrants in general - is not going to help them win their hearts and minds. There will be hell to pay at the polls.
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Ironically, after all is said and done, Joe (You lie!) Wilson's outburst could go down in history as the death knell for the most reactionary and extremist wing of the Republican Party. Call it poetic justice.
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