J.C. WATTS: Put away the race card - Opinion

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Sep. 27, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

J.C. WATTS: Put away the race card

Polls and voting data don't support Carter's remarks

J.C. WATTS
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There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president."

That comment comes from former President Jimmy Carter, which is fascinating considering Carter once ran for governor of Georgia proclaiming himself to be a "Lester Maddox Democrat." (Maddox, a former Georgia governor, was an avowed segregationist who opposed integration under the Civil Rights Act.)

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In fairness to President Carter, I do believe in redemption, and that people can change. But more and more people are inclined to say anyone who disagrees with Barack Obama must be racist.

It hurts me when the left and the right use race for political gain, and it depresses me further that it's so awkward for us to talk about honestly and objectively about race. However, the implication that disagreeing with the president is racist also saddens and perplexes me.

Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Al Gore in 2000 and now a CNN analyst, nailed it when she said, "No one wins in touching race in such a shallow way. It raises defenses and creates backlash."

The race issue blew up two weeks ago when Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., called Obama a liar on the floor of the House during the president's address to a joint session of Congress. Although Democrats booed President Bush in that same chamber during a State of the Union a few years ago, it was still wrong for Wilson to do this.

He called the president's chief of staff and apologized. I would have preferred he do it on the floor of the House, which is where the incident occurred.

There has always been a certain decorum in the people's House. Boos and yelling "You lie!" are not part of that decorum.

Some try to defend one yelling "You lie!" because others boo, but two wrongs don't make a right. Of course, we see this logic in politics from Democrats and Republicans both.

Be that as it may, was Wilson's outburst racist? The congressman said it was not, so I take him at his word, and the opposition we've seen to the president's agenda would not equate to racism based on the data released in the last year.

-- President Obama did not get the majority of the white vote in 2008. Is that evidence of racism? No. This has been the case with Democrat candidates for years, including President Carter.

-- President Obama did slightly better with the white vote in 2008 than John Kerry did in 2004.

-- Before President Obama proposed a government takeover of the health care system, his approval rating with white voters was 57 percent.

-- Between Election Day and the launch of Democrats' health insurance reform efforts, President Obama did well with independent voters. But he has lost about 18 points with this demographic in the past two months. Most of these independent voters are white.

The data simply do not support President Carter's claim.

Are there some people who didn't vote for Obama because he's black? Certainly. Just as there were some who opposed John McCain because he is white.

There are people of all colors who believe it is wrong for the government to take over our health care system.

There are people of all colors who believe we will have no choice but to ration health care when we put between 35 million and 40 million more people in the system but yet have the same number of doctors.

There are people of all colors who believe we already ration care through Medicare and Medicaid.

There are people of every color who believe it is bad economic policy to raise taxes, especially in a weak economy.

I would remind you that in the last two years of the Bush administration, conservatives were taking shots at President Bush for all his profligate spending, and it was never framed in terms other than "Republicans are mad at Bush for all the spending."

How inconsistent that the media loved disgruntled conservatives being disenchanted with Bush, but abhor criticism of President Obama.

There are people of all colors who believe we are literally mortgaging our children's futures with this spending spree. These people would have felt the same with if it were President Hillary Clinton, Kerry, Bill Richardson or any other president proposing the nationalization of 16 percent of our economy and spending like there's no tomorrow.

Ironically, I wonder how President Carter would view things if it were President Clarence Thomas proposing tax relief, protection for the unborn, raising the troop levels in Afghanistan or exploring for oil right here in the United States.

As Arsenio Hall used to say, "It's something that makes you say 'Hmmm.' "

J.C. Watts (JCWatts01@jcwatts.com) is chairman of J.C. Watts Companies, a business consulting group. He is former chairman of the Republican Conference of the U.S. House, where he served as an Oklahoma representative from 1995 to 2002. He writes for the Review-Journal twice monthly.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. anon wrote on October 08, 2009 10:39 AM: I don't care what race someone is as long as they're conservative. God Bless you jc watt! i'm a white conservative who despises obama for his ludicrous politics and massive ego mixed with his personality cult. if a white man was the same way i'd despise him too (biden!!, carter, hillary (lol) Tony Hood wrote on September 29, 2009 09:58 PM: Well said. I agree with everything you have stated,and believe it's the truth. I am ashamed to have someone like Jimmy Carter from my home state of Georgia. He has shown his lack of understanding the truth in his comments about our country. Above all, I am ashamed of him because he has claimed to be a christian. We are to speak in truth and love and I don't see any of that out of him. Keep up the good "work" and thanks for all you are doing. jackie wrote on September 29, 2009 11:47 AM: Well said JC Watt!!! U R a great man with morals and character. I am a white middle age women and if U ran in 2012 against a white man I don't care who it is. U have my vote!!! You are a great honest man, and thats what this country needs.I don’t like obama because of what he stands for. Not his color! I look for character and morals in a President and obama is lacking!!! Love to see you run in 2012. Sharon Roberts wrote on September 29, 2009 11:13 AM: How nice to hear from you! My husband and I were sorry when you left government office. Both of us would have gladly voted for you in the highest office in the land. Keep those comments coming. We look forward to reading more from you. Tim Ottinger wrote on September 28, 2009 03:34 PM: Any president is a man with a difficult job, and neither messiah nor demon. We've matured beyond racism when the the president's birth circumstances are completely uninteresting compared to the character of the work he is doing. I think we'll get past race and sex issues well before we see civility between liberals and conservatives. Mary wrote on September 28, 2009 01:25 PM: Don't forget, J.C.: Jimmy Carter won his first race for Georgia governor by telling Georgians he agreed with and supported the ideas of George Wallace. True dat. Miles Monroe wrote on September 28, 2009 12:38 PM: J.C. Watts is one of the most level-headed people we have in this country. Thanks for putting it straight J.C. Jerome wrote on September 28, 2009 12:29 PM: Yeah, you better count the cards in your hand, too, J.C. After a career as a firebrand conservative with "Pro-Life" as your signature platform issue, you support and vote for a radical pro-abortion socialist for President. Hmmm...did you have a "Road to Damascus" moment and turn into a pro-abortion leftist? No? I wonder what you could possibly have seen in the (black) candidacy of a guy who is more (black) pro-abortion than NARAL? Maybe you liked his plan to socialize every business that decided it needs government support in the financial aftermath of the Lehman Brothers failure? Autos, banks, insurance companies. Or maybe it was just something (black) that you saw in him? Nice try, J.C. The race card is played when the player has nothing else. And you obviously had nothing else. GFY. K wrote on September 28, 2009 11:57 AM: I admire J.C. Watts, Morgan Freeman, Bill Cosby, and others who have certainly encountered racism, and yet rise above it and point out that we are Americans, and need to work together, not focus on differences. I wish we still had him in office, but I wish him success in all his endeavors. Let's hope his message gets out more. The Republicans hurt themselves with black Americans back in the 50s-60s (although, ironically, southern dems were worse), but today's black Americans need to look more closely at the parties, and they'll see that the R's are now much more in tune with their core values. Brian wrote on September 28, 2009 11:20 AM: Nothing but respect for you Mr. Watts, but who are the people who didn't vote for McCain because he's white? Could you be referring to the 90+% of black voters who voted for our President primarily because he is black? It seems as though you stopped with the statistics a little prematurely--sort of like pulling a punch. Read All Comments