I actually agree with Mike Tomasky that injecting race into the health care debate is a lose-lose proposition for Democrats regardless of how much the right’s animus against Obama is motivated by racism–I made a similar argument last year with regards to the election. Democrats shouldn’t be baited into arguing about race with Republicans, and former President Jimmy Carter‘s statement only makes things more difficult for the Dems to avoid doing so. I’m neither a Democrat nor a political operative, so I’m going to continue to call things as I see them.
The fact that Carter’s statement is problematic for Democratic officials doesn’t mean that the statement isn’t resonating in some quarters. I was kind of shocked to see this on my twitter feed last night:
Cosby elaborated on his Facebook page, via Alex Koppelman:
Various polls prior to the election indicated that between five and ten percent of Americans would never vote for an African American president. That number, of course, only includes those who actually admitted to their prejudice. How many others harbored such feelings but did not respond honestly when asked the question? And how many people oppose Obama’s plan because the President is African American?
In “Birth of a Nation,” D.W. Griffith used white actors in black face to portray black legislators as having low intelligence and acting like fools. Today, we have a band of real life congressional fools seemingly bent on blocking any meaningful reform of the health care system. But if we allow even one American to die simply because he or she cannot afford treatment, we are creating a shameful scenario that could aptly be called “Death of a Nation.”
Ouch. For years now, Cosby has been the GOP’s favorite source for citing the irrelevance–or, more frequently, nonexistence–of racism in modern life, even though that’s not exactly what Cosby was ever saying. I won’t hold my breath for them to listen to him now.
— A. Serwer
