Am I a Racist for Disagreeing with President Obama?
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What does race have to do with politics? Nothing.
Actress Angie Harmon, best known for her role on TV’s “Law and Order”, has been called a racist for disagreeing with President Barack Obama about his handling of the current financial crisis. She was somewhat ostracized by Hollywood for supporting John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. No real surprise that the notoriously liberal acting community is upset by Ms. Harmon’s political views again.
Ms. Harmon recently defended herself to Fox News. “If I have anything to say against Obama it’s not because I’m a racist, it’s because I don’t like what he’s doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way, but what I find now is that if you say anything against him you’re called a racist.” She further explained, “But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is. I’m just not crazy about what he’s doing and …we’ve got unemployment at an all-time high and that was his number one thing and that’s the thing I really don’t appreciate. If I’m going to disagree with my President, that doesn’t make me a racist. If I was to disagree with W. that doesn’t make me a racist. It has nothing to do with it, it is ridiculous.”
I couldn’t agree more. I oppose Mr. Obama and his politics; I did not drink the “Obama Kool-Aid”. However, I am not a McCain or Bush fan either. The plethora of financial bailouts is abysmal. Granted, Mr. Obama inherited our economic problems from his predecessor, the oh-so-popular George W. Bush, but President Obama has done very little, if anything, to help the economy. I realize he has only been in office a mere two months and he has to get congressional approval for just about everything, but it seems things are getting worse instead of better. Am I a racist like Ms. Harmon?
Before you answer that, let me tell you about myself and my family. I am a white woman who has a bi-racial nephew. Caleb looks like a younger version of Obama and I love him as if he were my own child. Caleb’s mother, my sister, was in a relationship with Caleb’s father, a black man, and she vehemently opposes Obama. Are we racists? Hardly!
Obama won 95% of the black vote in last year’s election. Are the remaining 5% of black voters racists because they did not vote for Obama? Of course not! It is simply preposterous to think that just because we disagree with someone’s political views that we oppose their race as well.
9 Comments
Julie:
Race has nothing to do with it (politics) until people like you and Angie Harmon feel compelled to bring race into the political debate. It is interesting that neither you nor Angie Harmon have COHERENTLY explained your opposition/disagreements with President Obama. I guess you both felt it much easier to talk about race and not being racist, instead of explaining your specific differences with the President on economic policy and what exactly he should have done in two months to change this country’s economic circumstance.
Oh, and I have to say, I know plenty of white people who have a bi-racial grandchild, nephew, even children, and that does not stop their bigotry, prejudice and in some cases RACISM. So, as always actions speak loader than words! You and other white people are not “racist” because you speak ill of Obama, (I think you know that much, which is why your blog on this subject is nothing more than a Red-Herring), nevertheless if you or Angie Harmon believe, posit or actively promote any of the stereotypical lies about a group of people (Blacks, Hispanics), you and Angie Harmon can speak ill of your president all you want, but you may be looking a racist in the mirror!
A racist would simply be someone who suggests .. that failing to support Obama makes someone a racist. Oh by the way .. what the heck makes Obama black? His father was African. His mother ‘Caucasian’ American. Except in special cases your ‘Caucasian’ is made from a melting pot of people from everywhere. Just go back a few generations: Your 5th Great Grandparents (say, around the Revolutionary War) theoretically consists of 128 separate family lines. Chances are your generic ‘Caucasian’ has all ‘races’ represented in his/her ancestry.
Anyhoo .. ‘race’ itself is meaningless. We have different genetic heritages that have nothing to do with politics. The cultural and social differences are what effects political decisions. I have seen it suggested that Obama’s lack of a father has lead to his Socialistic tendencies. Whatever. If I oppose Obama’s nationalizing banks, or automobile makers then that is because if believe that Capitalism is better then Socialism. That doesn’t make me a racist.
It does though, make the accuser a racist.
Obama is BROWN, not black. If I, a white person, criticize him, I am criticizing the white part. No, I am criticizing because he is wrong on appeasment for foreign policy, and socalism and soft tyranny and infanticide on domestic issues.
To the author – Yes you are a racist because you cannot explain why you disagree with his views but instead talk about Obamas skin color.
Oh yes, RACISM IS ALIVE and WELL in the USA. The press has been scrutinizing Obama since he took office and even his current visit to the G-20 summit brought in a number of people out of the woodwork to talk about Michelle Obamas dress sense, their meeting with the queen, etc…
There was none of this scrutiny of Laura Bush when she was in that position.
Michelle is a graduate of the ivy league schools in this country and then worked for a prestigious law firm. She would know how to carry herself in a social situation.
How come Laura Bush (a small town librarian) was not subjected to this scrutiny? BECAUSE SHE WAS WHITE…..
Oh yes, RACISM IS ALIVE and WELL in the USA….
Heidi, I think you are of bad will. Obama is more than 1/8 white; therefore, he is white. Therefore, Obama as 1/2 white can be criticized by white people, including the auhtor, without fear of racism. The point of the article was that Angie Harmon was branded as a racist for constructively criticizing his views. RACISM, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
It sounds like you want the media to kiss Mr. Obama’s brown hiney and say everything he does in the G-20 is great. He is brown, not black!
To Punky:
Yes, I want to media to kiss Obamas brown hiney like you said.
If the media kissed the white blotchy speckled hiney of the previous C grade President and hung onto his every word they can certainly do it for Obama who is the smartest president in the history of the USA and yes, you will not hear that said about him on US airwaves. Like said, RACISM is ALIVE and WELL in the USA…
To Edward:
Calling Obama Brown may be your attempt at sarcasm, but, many bi-racial Americans may disagree. In spite of the lightness of Obama (and other mixed-race individuals’) skin-color as compared to average African-Americans, the inherent racial nature of US History all but dictates that Obama, Halle Berry, Alicia Keys, etc. will be treated (and thus consider themselves) BLACK (a pejorative, yes–but no less true).
Additionally, I am amused at the new definition of Racist: “The person who accuses someone white of being a racist, is in fact a racist.” Nice! Just wondering, if I call myself the Queen of England, you think the European dealership will let me drive off in a Bently for a week to see if I like the power and handcraftsmanship of its new GTC line?
Blogger Julie and Angie Harmon are free to criticize their President all they want. The problem I have is they have yet to detail their criticisms, only the supposed heat they take for criticizing a black President. This I know: Republicans are LIARS! So, I don’t believe anything Angie Harmon says. If she said it was raining, I’d put on a bathing suit and flip-flops before I went out! Mrs. Harmon’s comments have been all over the internet, yet, try as one might you’ll be hard-pressed to find: WHO CALLED ANGIE HARMON A RACIST FOR CRITICIZING BARACK OBAMA! Like I said: LIARS!
The author of this post, I will not pretend to know her intent, yet, it strikes me that talking about her mixed-race nephew, and the 95% of blacks that voted for Obama is supposed to counter her non-existent details on how things are supposed to get better rather than worse INSIDE OF 2-MONTHS! When people complain about something prematurely, others are right to look for some undisclosed/hidden agenda. Thus and so, Angie Harmon and Julie you both have some explaining to do. Otherwise, why are you both obsessing about Obama’s race? Guilt, maybe?
Ladies:
The whole point of my article was to show that race and politics do not have anything to do with one another and that disagreeing with someone’s political views is not a judgment on their race. I am what is widely considered a moderate; I am fiscally conservative and socially liberal. At this point, I believe there are about 5 of us true moderates left in the country and none are in Washington. I really do not agree with anyone in politics right now. I briefly mentioned my problems with President Obama’s economic policy in my article and perhaps I should have gone into more detail. Now, I will elaborate.
I do not like the current stream of financial bailouts. While some of the institutions who were given money are using it wisely, some are not. For example, the multi-million dollar bonuses given to AIG executives is unreasonable given the current econony and the fact that they were given taxpayer money. Where is my bonus? Or yours, Heidi and Diana? Bonuses were addressesed in Congress and yet Obama did not change the language in the bill or do anything to limit them. Yes, I realize that AIG was contractually obligated to pay the execs, but that was before AIG went bankrupt and asked for the bail-out. Things changed. Congress and Obama should have stricter terms on what to do with the money in the bail-out bill.
I do not like the stimulus package that contains thousands of earmarks, which is something Mr. Obama said he would never allow. Funny how he is already breaking campaign promises. At this rate, our deficit will increase $1 trillion a year. Our country cannot afford that, particulary after the money Bush spent on the war.
I do not like bail-outs and stimulus packages, but since I am not an economist, I cannot offer any other solution other than to have stricter terms with what to do with the money. Just because I cannot offer viable solutions, doesn’t mean I have to like what is being done. I am afraid that Obama and his cronies will spend us into oblivion and the dollar will not be worth the paper on which it is written.
Unfortunately, I am fully aware that racism is alive and well. That wasn’t the point of my article.
As for the Obamas being scruntized, they are now icons! Much like President John Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy, they are extremely popular and every move is watched and emulated. That comes with the territory and has nothing to do with racism! No one cared about Laura Bush, which is why she wasn’t scruntized.
BLACK + WHITE= BROWN. Calling a bi-racial person black ignores the white parent’s genes. Hopefully, society will soon stop seeing only the black parent’s genes and see the entire brown person for whom he or she is: both black and white.
I mentioned my nephew to show that I have a person just like Obama (black father, white mother) in my family. I love Caleb for who he is and race has nothing to do with it. Yes, I disagree with Obama’s politics (and the rest of Washington’s, for that matter), but I do not care what race he is. I disagree with 99.99% percent of what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says. Does that make me a racist?
Very effective piece, judging by the strength of the responses. You provoke thought, not just knee-jerks.