Jimmy Carter: Many white people believe "that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country" [UPDATE]

jimmy carter via msnbc...

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"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," Carter said. "I live in the South, and I've seen the South come a long way, and I've seen the rest of the country that share the South's attitude toward minority groups at that time, particularly African Americans."

Carter continued, "And that racism inclination still exists. And I think it's bubbled up to the surface because of the 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 it grieves me and concerns me very deeply."

there are those of us who are becoming seriously disillusioned with obama for things that have nothing to do with his race, but i see a much larger group of people, all of them white, who are attacking obama for things that are stunningly wrong-headed, many if not most of which are very thin cover for inherently racist sentiment... and, as i've said before, jimmy carter may be one of our most precious national treasures...

[UPDATE]

i don't get why the white house feels it necessary to comment on this at all, much less to dismiss it... it is an act of patent denial to say that criticism of obama has no basis in racism... is ALL of the criticism based on racism...? of course not, as i attempted to point out above... however, i do believe it is an unfortunate use of blinders to claim that none of it is... i have zero doubt that there are racist views out there on the right AND the left and we claim they don't exist at our peril...

US President Barack Obama does not believe current criticism of his policies is based on the colour of his skin, the White House has said.

It was responding to comments by former President Jimmy Carter that much of the vitriol against Mr Obama's health and spending plans was "based on racism".

[...]

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Mr Obama "does not believe that the criticism comes based on the colour of his skin".

"We understand that people have disagreements with some of the decisions that we've made and some of the extraordinary actions that had to be undertaken by this administration," Mr Gibbs said.

i can certainly see why the obama folks wouldn't want to come out in SUPPORT of carter's remarks but i do wish they'd just kept their damn mouths shut... (yeah, yeah, i know... silence = consent, but i'm getting damn sick and tired of this blind, pollyanna-ish devotion to high-mindedness and bipartisanship...)

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