On 'Race Cards and Speech Codes' (Updated) :: Political News and commentaries

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May 14, 2008

On 'Race Cards and Speech Codes' (Updated)

Topics: Political News and commentaries

The "race card" game; pc mumbo jumbo, or does it have to do with something far more sinister?

In his piece yesterday at Human Events.com, Patrick Buchanan pointed to Bill Clinton's being accused of "playing the race card," for his valid and appropriate remarks in New Hampshire and South Carolina - as examples of how the liberal media and the Democrats are setting limits around what may and may not be said about Obama to indimidate Obama opponents and especially conservatives:

"Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen."

So said Bill Clinton in New Hampshire of Obama's claim to have been a constant opponent of the war. Clinton cited Obama's voting record, which was the same as Hillary's in his early Senate years.

Yet, for this, the ex-president, designated by Toni Morrison as "our first black president," was charged with playing the race card.

Clinton spent days explaining the "fairy tale" remark.

Came then the morning of the South Carolina primary, where Barack was rolling up a smashing victory. Bill volunteered: "Jesse Jackson won in South Carolina, twice, in '84 and '88. And he ran a good campaign, and Sen. Obama's running a good campaign."

That broke it. Bill Clinton was openly "playing the race card."

Now, undoubtedly, Clinton was trying to belittle, to diminish the importance of the South Carolina vote for Obama. But why is it racist to say what Clinton was implying: That, in a Southern state where a huge share of the Democratic vote is African-American, a strong black presidential candidate can be expected to do well?

Political history proves this. What is racist about saying it?

As Buchanan points out, absolutely nothing is racist about what Clinton said; Clinton being called a racist has little to do with what he said and very much to do with something much more sinister:

Some of the reaction to the Clintons, whose once-universal support among African-Americans has crashed, is due to the immense stake black Americans have come to invest in the Obama candidacy. But some of this is something else, something more sinister.

Bill and Hillary Clinton are not playing a race card. Rather, the liberal media and some black journalists with sentimental, emotional or ideological investments in Obama are playing the intimidation card.

They are setting limits around what may and may not be said about Obama. They are seeking to censor robust adversarial speech where Barack is concerned, by branding as racists "playing the race card" any who make Barack run the same paces as anyone else.

The Clintons are today victims of a double standard that has long been employed against conservatives.

Even African-Americans critical of Obama are feeling the lash. In Saturday's Washington Post article, "Black Community Is Increasingly Protective of Obama," reporter Darryl Fears writes, "Standing in the path of Obama's campaign has been dangerous" for prominent blacks.

Bill and Hillary have lost luster and sustained damage to their reputations because, in the Democrats' universe, such smears stick. The question for Republicans is whether they will let themselves be intimidated, as they too often are, from using legitimate political weapons to defend what they still have.

Should Republicans, independents, and conservatives continue to allow Black liberals, the Democrats, and the liberal media play the "intimidation card," and get away with it, America will wake up one morning in November and find out that they have allowed themselves into being intimidated into having a president with no qualifications for the office and a very dark agenda (no pun intended here) for the country. When his past and present associations, his character, and his judgment should have been questioned and scrutinized, but instead where avoided because of intimidation, we will look back with very deep regret. As Buchanan goes on to point out in his piece, the question for Republicans is whether they will let themselves be intimidated, as they too often are, from using legitimate political weapons to defend what they still have. And he reminds us that our first sign of trouble ahead has already occurred; it happened when John McCain declared the Rev. Wright off limits and berated the North Carolina GOP for bringing him up. (Let your adversaries circumscribe the content of your campaign, and you usually end up losing your campaign.)

Related:
At CNN, an article from Ruben Navarrette Jr. that explicitly spells it out: Not voting for Barack Obama is racism.

Race Cards And Speech Codes

Posted by Richard at May 14, 2008 10:28 AM

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