Race Issue Simmers in Joe Wilson Flap

Washington Post: Some Black Lawmakers Feel Racism Has Fueled Heated Anti-Obama Rhetoric

(Washington Post)  This story was written by Paul Kane.

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House Democrats plan to formally reprimand Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) on Tuesday for his outburst last week in which he accused President Obama of lying about proposed health-care legislation.

The vote on punishment will resolve the issue in the House, but behind the incident some see a broader question: Is racism a factor in the way the president is being judged?

With two simple words -- "You lie!" -- shouted during Obama's speech to Congress, Wilson helped escalate an issue that has been on a slow burn for weeks, especially among African Americans. Many watched the rancor at last month's town hall meetings with suspicion that the intense anger among some participants -- including signs calling for Obama's death and a movement questioning his citizenship -- was fueled by the fact that a black man sits in the Oval Office. (Watch the outburst.)

Led by their most senior black lawmakers, House Democrats decided Monday evening to hold the vote. The decision risks escalating the partisan warfare that has erupted since Wilson's outburst.

A vote would reverse the initial sentiment voiced by the president and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) that it was time to "move on" to the debate on health-care. But the White House and Pelosi yielded to senior black Democrats, led by House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), and other members of the leadership team, who argued that Wilson's remark was a breach of conduct that must not be tolerated.

Clyburn has said behind closed doors that many black voters saw Wilson's actions as part of the heated rhetoric from conservative activists whose protests, including one on the Capitol grounds Saturday, have included depictions of Obama as Adolf Hitler and the comic-book villain the Joker, according to those attending the meetings. It was one thing to have such remarks at town hall meetings during the summer recess but completely different during a presidential address to a joint session of Congress, Clyburn and other black Democrats argued, and Democrats needed to stand up for the nation's first black president.

Clyburn has not publicly called Wilson's remark racist, but he told reporters immediately after the speech that Obama is the only president to have been treated in such a manner.

Some black lawmakers were more direct.

Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), who received hate mail from constituents during Congress's August break, said Wilson had just returned from the rowdy town hall forums at which the most heated accusations were leveled at Obama.

"I think he was caught up in a moment. The issue is: Would he have done that if the president were white?" Scott said, adding that few Republicans opposed the "level of rhetoric" against Obama in August. "We've got to realize racism is playing a role here. I'm hopeful that this will be a wake-up call for us to get it off the table."

Democrats emphasized that it was not just members of the Congressional Black Caucus seeking to reprimand Wilson, and that a broad cross section of Democrats supported the measure, including Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). Hoyer had argued publicly that Wilson had to make a formal apology from the well of the House chamber or face some sanction.

But Wilson has refused to offer any apology beyond the private phone call he made Wednesday night to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. In a show of defiance Monday, the lawmaker was the first Republican to speak when the chamber opened for a round of brief speeches. Rather than apologizing, Wilson hailed the "patriots" who attended his August town hall forums and opposed a "government takeover" of the health-care system.

Republican leaders rejected the accusation that there was any racial tinge in Wilson's comments and instead accused Democrats of using the issue to play to their base of liberal activists, who have funneled more than $1 million in contributions to Wilson's likely opponent next year.

"Representative Wilson has apologized to the president, and the president accepted his apology," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). "Last Thursday, Speaker Pelosi said that she believed it was time to move on and discuss health care. I couldn't agree more."

Senior aides in both parties expect the resolution to pass largely along party lines. The vote will officially be on what the House calls a "resolution of disapproval," the mildest form of punishment. Democrats cite rules of debate that prohibit lawmakers from "unnecessarily and unduly exciting animosity among its members or antagonism from those other branches of the government."

Republicans said Monday that they are not likely to offer an alternative resolution and that instead they want their members to focus on the content of the health-care proposal, as Wilson did in his brief remarks. But some Republicans came to Wilson's defense, accusing Obama and Pelosi of going back on their statements to move about moving beyond the controversy.

"What's it called when somebody says something they're going to do, and then they don't do it? What is that statement?" Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) asked in a floor speech.

After Obama's speech, the initial "macro view" among top Democrats was that he had finally broken through the noise of the town hall meetings and the alleged distortions of the legislation, according to one senior aide who discussed internal deliberations on the condition of anonymity. Democrats, the aide said, did not want to get distracted from the policy debate, as they had earlier in the summer after Obama's prime-time news conference on health care ended with his controversial comments that police had acted "stupidly" in deciding to arrest Henry Louis Gates Jr., a black Harvard professor, outside his home after police responded to a call about a possible intruder.

"It's time for us to talk about health care and not Mr. Wilson," Pelosi told reporters Thursday morning, echoing a similar statement from Obama, who suggested that "we all make mistakes."

More Coverage from CBSNews.com:

Will House Democrats Censure Joe Wilson?
The Joe Wilson Chronicles
Andrew Cohen: Joe Wilson's War
Joe Wilson's "You Lie!" Spurs Support, Criticism

But that morning several members of the black caucus stood up at a gathering of House Democrats to argue that Obama was being treated differently than any president, according to those in attendance. They argued that the image of a white Southerner calling the nation's first black president a liar on television on the House floor could not stand with a private apology.

During a series of roll-call votes Thursday, Clyburn implored his fellow South Carolinian to make a formal apology, as did Boehner and other Republican leaders, who had initially rejected Wilson's comment to Obama as inappropriate. But Wilson rejected the entreaties.

Clyburn, the highest-ranking black lawmaker in Congress, took the position in a leadership meeting Thursday afternoon that Wilson had to be punished, according to a handful of those in attendance.

Clyburn has served as a leader on racial matters. During last year's hard-fought Democratic presidential primary contest, he criticized former president Bill Clinton when he thought his comments about Obama's victory over his wife, then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the critical South Carolina primary were racially disparaging toward Obama.

Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.), another black lawmaker, said the action was warranted not "because he's the first black president" but because Wilson broke the rules. But Meeks said that Wilson's charge was borne of that sentiment from the town hall anger. "You've never seen those kinds of signs and that kind of language used before," Meeks said. "You didn't see that same kind of language with past presidents."

But some Congressional Black Caucus members were hesitant to give Wilson too much attention, suggesting that a reprimand plays into the Republican hands. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a past chairman of the group, said, "I don't want this to distract from what we are doing, because that's the danger."

[opinions09]

This is getting so old. Former President Carter is saying that people don't think that Obama should be President because he is African American. But there are two sides to that coin. There are also people out there that think that he should be President JUST BECAUSE he is African American. Are we EVER going to get past this and look at people for who they are and what they stand for? I am sick of the excuse for being racist being "that was how I was raised". You have a choice to make to change the way you are going to BE. You don't just continue to follow that path or you, your children, and all of your future generations will never change!! I personally am sickened by my own racist family members' views, and I let them know it. I don't allow them to push their agenda on me. I'm not going to be led around like an ignorant sheep. Come on people, wake up and break the cycle!!

[tcor]

Are you crazy airing this report. Jimmy Carter has lost it. He does not know Wilson and to say that this is racism is nuts. He is making a blanket statement that people from the South are racist. I am from the south and not racist. I do not think so much stock should be put in one man's words. Besides this is hear say and not real news. I saw the interview last night on NBC and that is the reason I was watching CBS tonight. Let's be more responsible and stay away from the hear say. I am looking for better.

[erasmus111]

by spiritwalk September 15, 2009 10:17 PM EDT
You don't mean you are looking for change, you are looking for payback.


No, I mean looking for CHANGE.

And as for "payback", I don't believe black people are looking for payback. They have every right to want it though! I believe they want to move on, but some white people won't let them.

Geez, you'd think that they were the ones that had been wronged.

[cs4466]

There was no way they could be branded as anything but racists.

There is no way that you can possibly accuse someone of having a "liberal agenda" just because they are talking to school kids about staying in school!

by erasmus111 September 15, 2009 10:34 PM EDT


Right on, as usual, erasmus111. Thanks.

[erasmus111]

by spiritwalk September 15, 2009 10:10 PM EDT
When people objected to Obama talking to school children these people were immediately branded as racists and that their reason for not wanting him to speak was because he was black.


There was no way they could be branded as anything but racists.

There is no way that you can possibly accuse someone of having a "liberal agenda" just because they are talking to school kids about staying in school!

[cbvill72]

So RACE is the reason? HMM....Was race a reason for Obama to rush to the rescue of the Harvard Professor who conducted himself like a thug (KANYE? and was rightfully arrested for it. Would Obama have acted in the same manner had Gates been a cracker?

[erasmus111]

The Professor may have conducted himself wrong, but so did the cop. The Professor was in his own home and it did not matter how he spoke to the cop. There is no law against speaking your mind. And the cop had no right in making him leave his home. To me, the cop was more in the wrong that the Professor.

[erasmus111]

by spiritwalk September 15, 2009 9:47 PM EDT
I find it not only disturbing, but frightening that any criticism of Obama is immediately met with accusations of racism.


Give me a freakin' break! We aren't talking about normal criticism here. The guy can't say or do ANYTHING! He can do nothing right. He can't talk to school children about staying in school without people accusing him of pushing a "liberal agenda". Now that's DISTURBING! There are some truly sick people living in the U.S.

[spiritwalk]

Well this is disturbing in that you are completley oblivious to the idea that each one of these flaps turns out being used to Obama's advantage.

When people objected to Obama talking to school children these people were immediately branded as racists and that their reason for not wanting him to speak was because he was black.

Now, because Wilson said Obama was a liar he has been branded a racist.

Nobody can say or do anything in opposition to Obama without being called a racist and it was quite obvious with the Prof. Gates incident that Obama is the one who openly plays the race, yet though Wilson has not done so it is he who has been labeled as being racially motivated.

What is truly sick is that it appears that the real racists have been caught time and again making race the issue to destroy their opponents, as with the attempts to destroy Joe Wilson right now.

[erasmus111]

by bantamei September 15, 2009 9:38 PM EDT
During the "march" over the weekend one woman said "the Muslims are moving in and taking over".


Yes, I saw this on my "Canadian" television. It is mind boggling to me that people can be that stupid.

[spiritwalk]

I find it not only disturbing, but frightening that any criticism of Obama is immediately met with accusations of racism.

I am also very frightened that these accusations of racism are being deliberately orchestrated, from within the White House, knowing full well the power of the internet propagate them out of all proportion and logic.

It is Orwellian how the public is being manipulated a la 1984 mass propaganda.

[bantamei]

Bush didn't deserve any respect. Any president who refers to the constitution as "just a GD piece of paper" as the low life Bush did doesn't deserve any respect.

[bantamei]

Racism from the right is palpable. If Obama was white the right wouldn't be as near contentious as they are. During the "march" over the weekend one woman said "the Muslims are moving in and taking over". She's either stupid enough to still believe Obama is a Muslim or Muslim is a euphemism for black. The conservatives are showing themselves to be strident fools. I wouldn't vote for anyone these Beck's sheep would vote for. Lunatics.

[seafang]

hey when 98% of voters of one specific racial group, in the entire country vote as a bloc for one candidate; who happens to be somewhat of the same racial bloc; you know darn well it is entirely a racial issue.

No Presidential candidate in history, ever got 98 percent of the votes of any one ethnic group; until the most recent totally racist election.

And the sad part is, that the only link between the candidate, and American Black ethos, is that his Moslem ancestors enslaved their African ancestors.

[erasmus111]

If every single person that is black voted for Obama, who could blame them? I mean, who would have thought that in the year 2009, a black person would still be treated like crap by a white person. Who would have thought that they would still be being dragged to death behind some white ***** truck? Who wouldn't be looking for the opportunity to have some REAL change? However little it may be.

[erasmus111]

And I don't call that racism. I call that the only logical choice. I call that smart thinking.

Some people might think that things have changed a lot over the past years. NOT REALLY.

[erasmus111]

by tomanyt September 15, 2009 11:19 AM EDT
I was wondering how long it would be before someone played the race card.


God, I get real tired of hearing this. What bullcrap. What's the matter, can't deal with the fact that there is major racism in your great country? Racism is alive and well in the great U.S. of A. I guess it is hard to hear that, huh? Everyone likes to hush it up. Well you can hush it up all you want but the fact is that it is still there.

There is major racism against Obama. There is no getting around that.
When you see children holding signs and chanting, "Assassinate Obama", what other conclusion can you come up with? And this I think was even before you took office! Great country you live in, huh?

We know that this is coming from mommy and daddy. And we also know that they aren't democrats. So gee, I wonder who those racists are?

[erasmus111]

"And this I think was even before you took office!"

"you" should be "he".

[snowylynne]

Get rid of him period!!!!

[Syndicate]

You want a race issue? Lets talk about how we got stuck with unqualified buffoon for president because he has dark skin. Admit it, if he was white he would not have been elected. A lot of those black people would not haven taken the time to vote for him. The media would have pointed out all his lies if he were white. So who are the racist?

[velma179]

So Bill Clinton getting the majority (some say about 90%) of the "black" vote was because he has "dark skin"?

You Syndicate certainly are not one to make a judgment on the intelligence or veracity of a man.

Period.

[jmbreland]

So predictable. If you don't have anything legitimate to say, start talking about race. In case you haven't noticed "racism" is the new playbook buzzword for responding to criticism of the Obama administration.

Actually, I think it's a good sign. Racism has become the last redoubt of those who have run out of anything substantive to say. In otherwords, they've lost the argument but want to keep on talking.

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money]

by STBY21 September 15, 2009 5:18 PM EDT
Right behind the 9/11 truthers in line for the kook-aid.
========================================

9/11 WAS a gubment plot. It was a conspiracy, I tells ya.

Just goes to show, you start moving the goal posts all over the place or start erecting new ones, nobody knows what the game was in the first place.

Everybody loves a good conspiracy though. Flat earth anyone?

[STBY21]

And that Arizona moon landing thing.

[kenhamlett]

While racism plays a part in this matter, everyone should bear in mind that this is not "Republican" racism. I have said it before that regardless of the titles of Republican or Democrat, in South Carolina there is only one party and those from there claiming a national alliance are simply making a pretense of endorsing the view of the parties.
When you make the accusations, please bear in mind that one individual does not always reflect the sentiments of the entire group. While the Republicans have gotten really sleazy lately, they don't all embrace the views of Wilson. Thank God for that.

[velma179]

Absolutely correct kenhamlett.

I really, really want the sensible and inclusive among the Republicans to fight for the soul of their party.

Our country IS served best when there is reasoned debate among those who see things differently.

[ClarkeGrissom]

Well here it is.

Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said Tuesday that people will be putting on 'white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside' if emerging racist attitudes, which he says were subtly supported by Wilson, are not rebuked.

[Lawyers-Guns-n-Money]

by spiritwalk September 15, 2009 4:34 PM EDT
I don't understand how 9/11 came up in a discusion about who is telling the truth about healthcare either.
=================================

Where da birthers at?

[STBY21]

Right behind the 9/11 truthers in line for the kook-aid.