What's Going On in America?


Jimmy Carter is right about opposition to Pres. Obama being racially motivated, but wrong about the "overwhelming" size of that motivation. Anyone who witnessed the total humiliation of African Americans in our country before World War II, and for many years after, knows that there may still be millions of people who don't think a Black should be in the White House. Some of them, led by Sen. DeMint, no doubt, would like to see the president fail, even if such failure were detrimental or even calamitious to the nation. The KKK is still alive.

But there is more to Obama Resentment than racism. It is a kind of reverse Entitlement, which is in turn a form of bad sportsmanship to the nth degree. This is the entitlement of Republican elites, people I have known forever. I wasn't 20 when I learned first hand that captains of industry don't like to lose: one walked off a country club tennis court too angry to shake hands or say a word after I had beaten him in a hard match, even though I was a member of the same club. People that arrive by helicopter for their matches don't care what other people think. Indeed, some of those others may have come now to secretly admire such intense competitiveness. If an RE does it , it can't be wrong. These REs were born to great privilege. Educated at the best prep schools and Ivy League colleges (I went to one), they were told they were special from day one and that they were born to lead. They believe themselves to be the finest patriots, the best money managers, the toughest diplomats and the undeniable, natural heirs to power. So why wouldn't they be furious at this upstart Black who doesn't know his place and worse wants to be a transformational figure? Imagine it! He even wants to rein in Wall St and there is nothing more sacred to REs than that system of "wealth without work" that nearly destroyed the world's financial system and cost the people of this country trillions of dollars. (As a former Wall Streeter I know at least a little of what I speak.) Only a few years ago, led by that Supreme Elitist, George W. Bush, these elites were looking forward confidently to a PERMANENT MAJORITY IN CONGRESS! They had come to believe their own blarney. One might expect such people to be slightly above the fray, but I can see little noblesse oblige in their ranks today as they cunningly spread the canard that Mr. Obama is really ineligible by birth to be president. I will concede that men like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are terrific politicians, made in the image of their heroes, Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, but they simply aren't statesmen. And right now the roles they are playing are nauseating. Do anything to win: deceive, distort, destroy and above all scare, Would that Jimmy Carter were right, but this is no vestige of racism. It's much sicker.