Last night former President Jimmy Carter told Brian Williams that Joe Wilson’s “You Lie!” outburst at President Obama last week was “based on racism,” according to NBC News.
“I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he is African-American,” Carter said. He feels that Wilson’s shocking remark is part of a disturbing trend directed at the president that has included demonstrators comparing Obama to Nazi leaders. “Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national program on health care,” he said. “It’s deeper than that.”
Carter continued: “Racism … still exists and I think it has bubbled up to the surface because of a belief among many white people, not just in the south but around the country, that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It’s an abominable circumstance and grieves me and concerns me very deeply.” Still, Carter remains optimistic; he said he believes that Obama has the personal qualities necessary to “triumph” over these negative attitudes.
Republicans maintain that Wilson’s outburst had nothing to do with racism. “This is a pathetic distraction by Democrats to shift attention away from the president’s wildly unpopular government-run health care plan that the American people simply oppose,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.
![Designer McQueen Dead From Apparent Suicide [Photos]](http://cache.static.tsavo.com/wordpress/uploads/2010/02/20040603_tkf_n44_003-sm.jpg)
Comments
Louis
September 16th, 2009 - 11:45:02 AM
Give me a break.... a lie is a lie color doesn't make a difference. I hope for Obama's sake he is a more competent president than Carter was.
1
Amy
September 17th, 2009 - 12:51:01 PM
It seems like no matter what happens, there will always be an issue of racism to some degree.
2
Moi
October 2nd, 2009 - 10:20:25 PM
There will always be an issue of racism to some degree because race in America was defined by a distorted group of people who could not even spell their names. Throughout the 50s,60s and the 70s, good Americans sat there and allowed these people to define race. In fact, to some degree, even respected government officials were forced to stay quite or die. While many White people were heavily involved in the civil right movements, the overwhelming majority remained silent. How many times did we see the same people who hanged a black overjoyed in the courthouse because an all white jury found them not guilty in less then an hour. All these things created a deep seated hatred sentiment in the American society...so even if it seems like we are making some progress, the fact that so many good people remained quite during these trouble times, there will always be a level of uncertainty. During the OJ trail, for instance, even though almost all black people thought he was guilty, they wanted him to win. For, to them, it was the first time a black would beat the system that had wronged them for so long. But if more good Americans stood up against those distorted people, I think history would be more inclined to forgive a guy like Wilson. The only way the issue of racism might diminish is for more good people stand against hate.
3