Correct. It's opposition to him that's racially motivated. These yahoos at the health care townhalls are practically brandishing torches and pitchforks. Who the hell carries a gun strapped to their leg to a townhall meeting? Crazy racists, that's who.

Our first Gay president will get the same treatment, tenfold.

As somebody said during the campaign, Obama is forced to be the least aggrieved black man in America. Thus, regardless of what he might think, he can't call a spade-caller a spade-caller.

Gn2 - Aren't those being equated, though? Opposition to the agenda is opposition to Obama himself. That's how I read many of the portrayals of the current political climate.

So it's OK for him to lie about it because of political perception?

I'm not naive and I know that this is what politics is. It just seems as if you are admitting Obama is a liar because he can't tell the truth about it because of political perception.

I honestly don't know if I believe Obama. I think it is likely he recognizes what I said earlier in that regardless of how much racism is involved in the vocal protest, except for instances where it can quite explicitly be exposed as racist it is politically inapt to say so.

For example, most of those people opposing Obama's policy proposals would have even if they'd been proposed by a boring middle-aged white guy. But maybe it is latent racism that takes many people's opposition and bumps it up to anger that gets them out to rallies and town halls, etc.

It is not false to say racism is contributing significantly to the atmosphere. However, it does no good to say so since the individual acts of racism generally can't be identified and it is a measurement of the group average and nobody believes it applies to them (and it won't apply to a lot of people). So, to use a phrase of trade, everybody has plausible deniability ("I'm sure some people are racist but surely not me!").

And, from one perspective it is a sign of improvement that, in general, we've advanced to passive racism of a nature that I suspect is unrecognized in even the people altered by it. Moving to intangible is good, and I'd say it is intangible because they (also subconsciously) recognize that overt is not at all acceptable. And intangible is a lot harder to pass on to the children.

He's rising above it and trying to not add fuel to the conflagration. He knew the level of racism out there- he's lived his life dealing with it. I also think he knew that many of us did not realize how pervasive it is. I'd like to see any President handle the crap he's had to handle, not to mention handle it with the grace that he has, but I think the last time the vitriol was this bad was probably when Lincoln was in office.

Yes. It is a lie (if my suspicion is correct, just because I think he is motivated by X doesn't mean I'm right; though I always am). But it is both a politic and a political lie.

In the same category as how you answer "do these pants make me look fat?".

Oh crap. I better go pick up a pack or two.. if I can get lucky enough to find them. :(

I don't know, WB.....it seemed pretty vitriolic when Bush was accused of being behind the 9/11 attacks as justification for war. It seemed pretty vitriolic when Gore said the Bush betrayed our country. It seemed pretty vitriolic when Reagan was accused of wanting to starve poor people. There's all sorts of vitriol out there and it always seems worse when it it pointed at the person you find yourself supporting.