‘Racism behind anger towards Obama’
“I think it’s based on racism,” Carter said in response to an audience question at a town hall meeting held at his presidential centre in Atlanta. “There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.”
The Georgia Democrat said the outburst was part of a disturbing trend directed at the president that has included demonstrators equating Obama to Nazi leaders.
“Those kind of things are not just casual outcomes of a sincere debate on whether we should have a national programme on healthcare,” he said. “It’s deeper than that.”
Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, was formally rebuked in a House vote for shouting “You lie!” during Obama’s speech to Congress on September 9.
The shout came after the president commented that illegal aliens would be ineligible for federal subsidies to buy health insurance. Republicans made sounds of disbelief, punctuated by Wilson’s outburst.
On Tuesday, Wilson was formally rebuked by the House with a rare resolution of disapproval pushed through by Democrats saying he had violated basic rules of decorum and civility. Republicans said the measure was a witch hunt. Wilson, who has apologised to Obama, insisted he owed the House no apology.
Wilson’s eldest son defended his father. “There is not a racist bone in my dad’s body,” said Alan Wilson, an Iraq veteran who is running for state attorney general. “He doesn’t even laugh at distasteful jokes. I won’t comment on former president Carter, because I don’t know... [him] . But I know my dad, and it’s just not in him.”
South Carolina’s former Democratic Party chairman said that he doesn’t believe Wilson was motivated by racism, but said the outburst encouraged racist views.
“I don’t think Joe’s outburst was caused by President Obama being African- American. I think it was caused by no filter being between his brain and his mouth,” said Dick Harpootlian, who knows Wilson for decades.
Harpootlian said he received scores of racial emails from outside South Carolina after he talked about the vote on Fox News.
“You have a bunch of folks out there looking for some comfort in their racial issues. They have a problem with an African-American president,” he said. “But was he motivated by that? I don’t think so. I respectfully disagree with [former] President Carter, though it gives validity to racism.”
Carter called Wilson’s comment “dastardly” and an aftershock of racist views that have permeated American politics for decades.
