An Accurate View of Racism on “The View”
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First Lady Michelle Obama rebuts the canard of this country’s pervasive racism by reminding us of the color of our current President
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This week, First Lady Michelle Obama was on the tv talk (yap) show The View. I will admit that this was probably the first time I watched more than 10 seconds of the show. From what I can best see, it is a gaggle of women cackling over both substantive and non-substantive matters. With the First Lady, it is almost impossible to not be substantive, to some extent.
The fossilized Barbara Walters, declaring that the campaign is “getting fairly ugly” [where was she when President George W. Bush was under vitriolic attack every day during his presidency?], asked Mrs. Obama if racism will play a part of the campaign. Mrs. Obama, after meandering a bit, finally pointed out when pressed that her husband is President, meaning that this country did elect a black President. Well said, Mrs. Obama.
Every U.S. Presidential campaign is depicted as “the ugliest” at the time it occurs but the truth of the matter is that virtually all Presidential elections since the beginning of this republic have had their seamy sides.
But racism is the one lever which can be pulled that can truly be described as insidious, if used for political gain, as it not just attacks the candidate but our society as a whole, especially given this country’s historical fumblings with it. And as welcome as Mrs. Obama’s clear-eyed answer was, should the Democrats appear to be losing as the election draws near, look for the race card to be used, however implicitly, by the demagogues at MSNBC as well as other Liberal precincts and even the Obama re-election machine with not-so-subtle suggestions that if you don’t vote for Mr. Obama, you should peer into your soul to see if your vote is because of the color of his skin. Or, as they will reason, you can take the safe route and just vote for him to prove your non-racist bones. After all, Attorney General Eric Holder has doggedly pursued states for allegedly violating the 1960′s voting acts when there have been no infractions, as affirmed by the courts.
But “for a brief, shining moment,” at least we heard someone with stature on the President’s side remind us that no matter what the result of this November’s election, it will have little, if anything, to do with race for most voters.
-I.M. Windee
