Disagreement Is Not Racism

From the moment Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You Lie!” during President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress, a firestorm began to brew.

Of course, the extent of the fallout from those two words could hardly have been predicted.

I, like Rep. Wilson, did not believe the president was being fully honest in his assertion that illegal aliens would not be able to take advantage of “healthcare reform.”

I understand some are concerned with upholding the decorum of the House.

However, taking time to pass a resolution of disapproval was senseless, as well as unfair.

After the speech, Rep. Wilson apologized to the president.

Added to this is the fact that decorum rules were broken, without penalty, in 2005 when President Bush was booed by many Democrats.

By passing this resolution of disapproval, Congress did nothing more than waste the time of the taxpayers. Considering our own Rep. Travis Childers voted for this resolution, we should ask him what good it did.

Unfortunately, the wasting of taxpayer time and money is not the worst thing which has come from this situation. Many Democrats, have declared that by shouting “You Lie!” Rep. Wilson was spewing forth racism.

Referring to Wilson’s comment, Rep. Steve Cohen said, “I think there was a racial element.”

Rep. Hank Johnson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, went so far to say that because of Wilson’s shout, “We will have people with white hoods running through the countryside again.”

Former President Jimmy Carter agreed that Wilson’s outburst was racially based by responding, “I think it’s based on racism. There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.”

I never knew disagreeing with the president equaled racism.

In 2005, the Democrats, by booing, obviously made known their disagreements with President Bush. Were they racists? If not, they must have booed the president because they hate people from Texas. That makes sense right?

They booed President Bush because they didn’t like his opinions. Rep. Wilson shouted “You Lie!” because he disagreed with what Obama had just said. That’s the beginning and ending of the story. Why must politicians make such a big deal out of it?

As Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, said, “It’s very destructive for America to suggest that we can’t criticize a president without it being a racial act.”

You heard it here first—every criticism leveled at the Obama Administration is not due to racism. People have different world views. His view doesn’t fit with almost half the country.

What, then, do you expect?

I fully agree with what then Senator Hillary Clinton believed when she said, “I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow you’re not patriotic. We should stand up and say we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration.”

She hit it on the head.

I’m tired of people saying that half the country is racist because it disagrees with Obama.

Last time I checked, we still live in a country where we possess a right to speak freely. I didn’t agree with Senator Clinton’s opposition to President Bush, but I definitely supported her right to declare her disagreement with him.

Those of us who disagree with the current president should be allowed the same leeway.

It is fine if you have a problem with Rep. Wilson having gone against rules concerning House decorum.

At the same time, it was outrageous to “discipline” him. The rules he broke have been largely ignored in recent years, as noted in the case of the booing Democrats.

On a deeper level, I have a great problem with anyone claiming that Rep. Wilson’s comments were either racist or racially charged.

Neither Senator Harry Reid nor Rep. Donna Edwards, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, agrees with this assessment.

More importantly, the president has accepted the apology offered by Wilson and has not considered his remark to be racially motivated.

Our leaders need to grow up and get to the business of discussing important issues.

Instead, all they can do is waste our time arguing over this while the economy suffers, the dollar weakens, the status of our health insurance remains up in the air, and our soldiers remain at war.

Ask your representative why he thought it was such a good idea to start enforcing decorum rules now.

Ask him why he decided to support the wasting of taxpayer time and money.

Most importantly, ask him why he is so quick to condemn Rep. Wilson for uttering two words at an inappropriate time but is so slow to condemn outrageous charges of racism being hurled at the same man.

--As Appeared in The Daily Mississippian on Monday, September 21, 2009