I’m not racist, you racist

Posted on February 14, 2013 by dedc79

National Review’s The Corner continues to serve as a breeding ground for Obama-related race baiting.  Here’s Michael Knox Beran explaining that those of us who support President Obama must be blinded by the color of his skin:

Ordinarily a politician whose rhetoric diverges so far from the reality of his record would be run out of town, but with this president it is different. After four years of mediocre leadership, the majority of Americans continue to judge Barack Obama not on what he has done but on who he is. In an ironic reversal of the criteria of judgment set forth by Martin Luther King, they judge him not on the content of his character (or more precisely his actions and achievements) but on the color of his skin. The president is therefore exempt from the penalties other democratically elected leaders pay when they offend too egregiously against the truth; unlike them, he can stray into the realm of fantasy with impunity.

This is the curse of identity politics, but there are some grounds for believing that it will not permanently disfigure the country’s politics. The majority of Americans have decided that, whatever his faults, this president must be deemed a success, even if he has not actually succeeded — must be allowed to take his greatness honoris causa in lieu of his failure really to have earned it. There may be wisdom in the judgment that eight years of dubious leadership is a small price to pay for the sake of the symbolic value of the spectacle. One only wishes that the president had the self-knowledge to recognize the gift that has been conferred upon him, and the humility to acknowledge that his success derives, not from the flawed policies he continues to pursue, but from an act of electoral grace and favor.

What better way to defend against claims that Obama-hatred might have a racial component than to level the charge of racism back at Obama’s supporters?  Beran can’t even comprehend that a majority of Americans might honestly and reasonably believe that Obama has performed quite well in office, especially given the mess he inherited from his predecessor.  Nor is he interested in spending any time or effort considering non-race related explanations.   Instead he embraces a form of the affirmative action argument that right wingers have leveled at Obama since he first announced he was running for the Presidency.  This time, it’s not Obama’s college, law school or law journal that are allowing him to advance merely because he is black, it’s the American people who elected and then re-elected him.   Beran likes to think he knows what Martin Luther King would think of the Obama presidency.  I am quite confident that MLK would reserve his scorn for Beran, instead.

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  • http://www.tarheelred.com/ Pino

    One only wishes that the president had the self-knowledge to
    recognize

    the gift that has been conferred upon him, and the humility to

    acknowledge that his success derives, not from the flawed policies he

    continues to pursue, but from an act of electoral grace and favor.

    I think his, Beran’s, mistake is merging the racial component of Obama
    supporters and then Obama.

    I get on my conservative friends who claim that black-America supports Obama
    ’cause he’s black; black-America has been supporting democrats of all colors
    for years and years.

    What better way to defend against claims that Obama-hatred might have
    a

    racial component than to level the charge of racism back at Obama’s

    supporters?

    However, it is true that cries of “Racist!” from the left are both
    wrong and, using the new urban-dictionary definition of the term, racist
    themselves.

    • http://www.poisonyourmind.com/ nickgb

      using the new urban-dictionary definition of the term

      This isn’t a real thing. Urban dictionary is renowned for being, among other things, completely unintelligible and wrong.

      • http://www.tarheelred.com/ Pino

        This isn’t a real thing.

        It’s a concept.

        Clearly the term “racist” doesn’t mean what the dictionary says it means any longer. There is a new cultural definition of the term.

        I don’t know how to refer to that term in any better way that to draw on the imagery of a collection of words with new meanings.

        Oh, ask Rick Santorum if urban-dictionary isn’t real ;-)

        • http://poisonyourmind.com dedc79

          Well, let’s start with Beran – you don’t think there’s a shred of racism in what he wrote above? That Obama should have to recognize that he’s in office not because he’s competent but because he’s black?

  • http://www.tarheelred.com/ Pino

    Well, let’s start with Beran – you don’t think there’s a shred of racism
    in what he wrote above? That Obama should have to recognize that he’s
    in office not because he’s competent but because he’s black?

    I think it would be racist if he tried to make the case that Obama, or any other black individual, wasn’t qualified to be president BECAUSE that person was black. If he tried to make the case that there was something inherent to the race that somehow rendered an individual incapable of quality leadership.

    To me, THAT would be racist.

    And I don’t think that Beran is making that case.

    I think he’s making the case that America is acting in a manner more consistent with discrimination. In this case, Beran is trying to make the case that America is discriminating against white presidents. I think that he’s saying that if Obama were white, he would have been voted out of office. But because he’s black, he wasn’t.

    It’s important to point out that I think he’s wrong. Every time a president is voted in a second time there is about half of America that feel he isn’t qualified for a 2nd term. For example, I’m sure the left felt that Dubya was just as undeserving of his second term as the right is of Obama.

    I think that Beran is making an argument that is similar is form and nature to the argument against Affirmative Action.

    Now lemme ask you, is it racist that black students are accepted to medical school at higher rates than white students despite having the same qualifications?

    http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2012/02/do-medical-school-acceptance-rates-from.html

    • http://poisonyourmind.com dedc79

      In an imaginary America, where there was no history of extensive discrimination against blacks, I would have serious reservations about affirmative action. That’s not the world we live in. Affirmative action isn’t motivated by a view that blacks are better or worse than whites. It’s an attempt to right a wrong that whites committed against blacks for generations – one that has tended to make it harder for blacks to excel in school and professionally. It’s also borne out of a recognition that there are numerous more subtle ways in which whites continue to have advantages that blacks do not. As just one example, a university practice of favoring legacies (children of alumni) over non-legacies in admissions may not be racially motivated but it has a disparate racial impact on african americans. Affirmative action, in that context, is a corrective.
      Would I like to live in a country where affirmative action is no longer necessary? Yes, of course. Hell, the purpose of affirmative action, when it comes down to it, is to build a country where affirmative action is no longer needed.

      • http://www.tarheelred.com/ Pino

        Affirmative action isn’t motivated by a view that blacks are better or
        worse than whites. It’s an attempt to right a wrong that whites
        committed against blacks for generations – one that has tended to make
        it harder for blacks to excel in school and professionally. It’s also
        borne out of a recognition that there are numerous more subtle ways in
        which whites continue to have advantages that blacks do not.

        Right. So you feel that it is not racist. Using your argument, I would say that Beran is also not being racist.

        If I’m reading Beran correctly, he is saying that if we are okay with allowing less qualified students to gain admission to schools that they otherwise wouldn’t based ONLY on the color of their skin, why wouldn’t we be okay with applying that same rational to the office of president?

        You seem to be perfectly okay with allowing unqualified kids into med-school based on skin color, why wouldn’t I believe that you wouldn’t be equally okay with allowing unqualified people into the Oval Office, based on the same metric, as well?

        It would be interesting to know on what qualifications Barack Obama made it into Harvard. And if Obama did make it into Harvard with substandard scores and grades, I find it hard to explain how he was harmed by America’s slave history. Though it is interesting to know that reports have shown Obama is a descendent of an American slave, but on his white mother’s side.

        Weird world we live in.

        It’s an attempt to right a wrong that whites committed against blacks for generations

        While we’re not really discussing AA, this did spark my interest. I find it interesting that you describe AA as righting a wrong. Not as really solving a problem; namely that poor black kids aren’t being educated better.

  • Alan Scott

    Charges of racism by Obama supporters are primarily political tactics . If he is criticized it must be racism . Also what do current White students being discriminated against today have to do with past discrimination against Blacks ?