Maureen Dowd, a columnist for the New York Times, has a very strong opinion about what she seems to believe are the underlying motives that spurred Rep. Joe Wilson’s undisciplined, inappropriate, unprofessional and disrespectful outburst. Wilson, barked “you lie” aloud during President Obama’s speech last week before a joint session of Congress. Wilson’s lack of self control and simmering anger came unglued in a mini fit of rage as he went after the president in a display that was far beneath the dignity of the setting he was in. Dowd went right after what she saw as the motive of Wilson and those who now are rallying around him in a show of support for the South Carolina congressman.
Wrote Dowd:
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.
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.
Indeed, we’ve heard all these repeatedly from far-right nuts who have been in full attack mode since Jan. 20 (if not before). Clearly, these are smears designed to attack the president and attempt to demonize and delegitimize his still young presidency (especially if you include the insane birthers who have looked like idiots) in every way possible. Now, I do believe a lot of the critics of the president are unaware of the racism that exists in them (not necessarily racist in the most hateful sense of the word, but certainly uncomfortable with a black man – especially a Democrat, running the country as president).
Dowd added this:
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.
She is correct in that Democrats could have reacted in a similar way in the runup to the war in Iraq. She is absolutely correct. I don’t know that I believe race was Wilson’s motive, but I think it is the motive of others. I think Wilson’s actions were more about being undisciplined, angry, out of control, disrespectful and blindly partisan. With Wilson, I do not sense that race was the motive with the president, but there is an underlying race factor many people ignore: the anti-immigrant (illegal immigrant) racism that has existed in this country since the horrible terrorist attacks on 9/11 that shook us all up and the growing Latino population that is on pace to become the majority in the country in like a few decades.
I think that is the real race factor related to what Wilson said.
New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13dowd.html?_r=2&ref=opinion
