Ben Stein and the Politics of Racism

Conservative commentator Ben Stein called President Barack Obama "the most racist president there has ever been in America" during an appearance Sunday on Fox News.

Obama, Stein said, was using "race to divide Americans" and that it was Republicans, not Democrats, who were looking out for the best interests of black Americans.

"The Republicans are every bit in favor of African-Americans having a good life," Stein said. "I'd say more in favor than the Democrats."

Why then do blacks overwhelmingly vote Democratic?

Stein would like you to believe blacks have been duped by Democrats. After all, Republicans have done everything they can to win the vote of blacks, like passing laws that restrict blacks from voting.

It's clear from the comments of Stein and others that the election of Obama as the country's nation's first black president in 2008 did not produce, as some hoped, a post-racial America.

In Ben Stein's world, and in his words, an unarmed 18-year-old black man, Michael Brown, deserved to be shot to death by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, three months ago. "He was armed with his incredibly strong, scary self," Stein said.

In Ben Stein's world, and in his words, an unarmed 17-year-old black man, Trayvon Martin, got what was coming to him when he was shot to death by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, in 2012. If Martin had not attacked "the police man, nobody would be dead," Stein said.

But Zimmerman was not a police officer. He was a dangerous nuisance who had stalked Martin because the teenager was black. Zimmerman was, in fact, told by the real police to leave Martin alone.

In Ben Stein's world, white police officers are perfectly justified to pull over blacks for doing nothing more than driving while black. In Stein's world, blacks are not jailed for crimes they did not commit or given longer sentences than whites who committed the same offenses or put on death row -- and perhaps even -- executed based on fraudulent evidence.

Why?

"Because there is no evidence" that the court system discriminates against blacks, Stein said.

In fact, as Stein claimed, it's blacks like Barack Obama who are using "race to divide Americans."

Stein isn't alone in his opinion.

A month ago, Indianapolis oil tycoon Charlotte Lucas tweeted that she was "sick and tired of minorities running our country."

Of the 50 governors in the United States, one is black. Of the 100 U.S. senators, two are black. Of the 435 U.S. congressional members, 42 are black. There has been one black president and two black U.S. Supreme Court justices in the history of the United States.

When Lucas was referring to minorities "running the country," perhaps she was referring to corporate America.

Of the CEOs running Fortune 500 companies, six -- or 1.2 percent -- are black. Another ten -- or 2 percent -- are Latino.

In Ben Stein's world, corporate towers and football stadiums are named for people like Charlotte Lucas. The Indianapolis Colts play their home games at Lucas Oil Stadium.

On any given Sunday, you'll find one of the most segregated sections of society in the owners' boxes of NFL teams. White owners look down on the field and cheer for black football players and "their incredibly, strong, scary" selves until the players' bodies are too broken to continue.

Why is it that blacks continue to trail behind whites in politics, business, sports, and just about everything else in America?

Could it have anything to do with racism?

Stein says no. He says that there is no racism among white people. He says that racism is a black thing.

If you don't succeed in America, he wrote in an essay earlier this year in the magazine, American Spectator, it's your own fault for being lazy or uneducated or hooked on drugs.

You have no one to blame but yourself... and Barack Obama