So past president Mr. Jimmy Carter thinks that the vitriol being directed against the present incumbent of the White House, Mr. Barack Obama is racist. President Obama's staff have dismissed these suggestions because they demean the office of the President. One would expect that the President, who was personally elected by a large majority of people of all colours would be above such humiliations and by mentioning openly the word
' racism ' Mr. Carter has done Mr. Obama a disservice by bringing him down to the level of the ordinary black man who is denied service because of his colour. There are definitely a lot of whites who hate Obama only because he is black but then 90% of blacks voted for him, also, only because he is black. In interview after interview black people have expressed great happiness at seeing a black man in the White House, often saying that they had never imgined seeing such an event in their lifetimes. Maybe that is why Mr. Obama laid such importance on bipartisanship because he recognised that there was bound to be white resentment at what the whites would see as black racism. This was the sort of sentiment expressed at the confirmation hearings of Justice Sottomayor. Unfortunately Mr. Carter has undermined his efforts to rise above such pettiness. How often do we cause damage when we mean well?