Chris Matthews' Race Problem

Night after night Chris Matthews keeps raising race as the reason President Obama is encountering so much opposition to his proposals to reform health insurance and the primary motivating factor behind the Birthers, the conspiracy buffs who think the President was born somewhere other than Hawaii. Matthews is wrong and although it may not be his intent, he's the one who is injecting race into these debates.

The Birthers may be a lot of things, but I don't think it's fair to call them racists. Why? Because challenging the birthplace and citizenship of American presidents or presidential candidates is as American as Apple Pie, Mom and Baseball. Chester Arthur was accused by his opponents of being born in Canada, Barry Goldwater would likely have been challenged had he been elected President for having been born in Arizona before it was a state and questions were raised about John McCain's having been born in the Panama Canal zone. But Matthews doesn't recognize this tradition and calls the Birthers racists, when in reality they're merely political opportunists looking for every legal or technical means possible to delegitimize the presidency of Barack Obama, just as conservatives did against Clinton and liberals did against Bush 43.

Here, Matthews attributes citizen anger at healthcare townhalls to racism, but is once again way off base, trapped in a racial paradigm that he grew up with but which is no longer relevant in this new era when race has been displaced by political and cultural ideology as the dominant wedge issue in modern American political and cultural life and the fact that many of the tea-party-goers and Birthers voted for Alan Keyes in GOP primaries should attest to that.

But there's a simple way to find out if these right-wing movements are race-based or as I suspect, more rooted in ideology: Send a Hardball producer down to one of these rallies and ask the Birthers and Just Say No Health Care Protesters which of the following they'd vote for in a hypothetical matchup for President: Chris Matthews, a White, liberal, former speechwriter for Jimmy Carter and talk show host for MSNBC or Alan Keyes, a black, conservative, former Ambassador in the Reagan administration and failed presidential candidate.

Follow Mark Joseph on Twitter: www.twitter.com/markmjm

Comments

[murphysgirl]

Matthews is right on this one. All of the rage may not be about race, but it is surely a factor. To dismiss that is unfortunate..

[oet]

i guess i'm a little confused....... everybody is complaning about the presidents "blackness" gee..............did some one forget that he IS half white. i don't care if he's orange...... give the man a honest shot at doing his job... right wing-nuts STOP your; bashing,lying,giving the public misinformation,and bitching because our presidents of mixed race. time for the lilly white racephobes to realize america is for ALL peoples...thats what makes america...america. and for those of you who think(or don't) other wise, maybe you should leave. i wish our president the best. ( i didn't care or like dub-ya, but i hoped he at least tried to do what was best for our country.......[and we saw where that lead])

[areaman03]

I disagree. The baselessness of the charge from the birthers belies their racism. When paired with the nonsense from the campaign about Obama being "a muslim" and "paling around with terrorists" and the early attacks on Michele Obama (remeber those?) and the outrage over Rev. Wright, it's clear that this has all been part of a steady theme. These people have a hatred of Obama, period. Whatever he's selling (health insurance or otherwise) is filtered thru their grab-bag of fears, and there is no coincidence that the reccuring theme to this outrage has been blather like: "I want my country back!"; "This is Facism!"; "This is Socialism"; the Nazi imagery, etc. To them, Obama is not "one of us..." and therefore, it's easy for them to appropriate all of these disparate boogeymen into one puking scream.

[jag97PC]

Mark, although I would acknowledge that I think many of the Birthers and some of the protesters do have racial motivation in their dissent, I do think there needs to be more nuance to what Matthews says all the time. I am Hispanic, and I don't care about Obama being black. Many black conservatives and independents are not happy with Obama based on the same ideological principles that I object to. Unfortunately, those that claim racial discrimination are the same ones that label other based on the same racial determination... White=racist, Hipanic=racist, Asian=racist, Black=Uncle Tom racist.
Am I a self-hater because I didn't like the appointment of Sotomayor? Am I a "sellout"? I'm sure to those of you who say you want a playing field, but are always readdy to pull the "discrimination" card, I am. That's fine.
Mark, welcome to the debate against the Liberal Left. Ready to turn on any arguement, logical or not, that doesn't agree with them.

[KNadine]

Dude, you need to take those Rose-colored glasses off and join the real world. I think this has everything to do w/ Obama's race and Chris Matthews is right in calling it what it is. Prez Obama slipped in under the radar. They really didn't think he could win, especially after bringing Sister Sarah on the ticket, so they were shocked and dismayed when he actually won. Hell, even the Clintons preached "He can't Win". When you hear chants of I want my country back, plain & simple they are talking about taking it back from Blacks, Latinos & any other group that isn't lily white. Here is where your examples fail. Conservatives, Republicans or whatever they like to call themselves know full well that a Michael Steele and Alan Keys don't have a snowballs chance in hell of winning the Presidency, so sure, they are safe to vote for. Do you see how quickly they turned on Gen. Powell when he dared endorse Obama. Racism - pure & simple. To say otherwise is naive & disingenuous.

[emdeebee]

I have yet to see one "crowd shot" of birthers that is ethnically diverse. I couldn't disagree more with the author.

[BuzzingAlong]

I AM saying, not alleging, that these people are so racist that they would vote for any white person over any black person regardless of ideology, even Joe the MIT PhD Plummer.

Or even that homeless guy sleeping under the dumpster. Doesn't matter as long as he is not black or brown.

[GHARDY]

I agree with you BuzzingAlone, these people when asked what their oppositions are they have none. Case in point the woman at the town hall who's sleeping beast was awaken, after being interviewed by Lawrence O'Donnell in for Matthews, she had no idea about her own financal position or her own health care, all she new was Obama was bad, I ask you why is that?

[BuzzingAlong]

Someone lives in a different reality from the non-rabid racist right-wing, meaning us normal American people.?

Stop being disingenious.

What, we are not supposed to believe our lying eyes?

[socalwoodworker]

you are sooooooo wrong..i know for a FACT this is all about a black man in the White House. I have many Cons. friends we are all in construction and YES it is about race. i'm just glad Mathews is shinning the light on it

[grdavis1019]

Matthews is absolutely right. What country have you been living in? Buy a copy of 'Who Moved My Cheese' for yourself and all these right wing n u t s who can't stand the fact the country is changing with or without them.

[sophierose]

Unfortunately, Chris has a point. America is indeed, a bigoted country in some areas. However, I think it is only fair to point out that we still have not had a Jewish president, or Italian American, or Hispanic, much less a woman president. I don't think it is unfair to say that there would still be bigoted remarks about those groups as well..Reminds me of the old "all the world is queer but me and thee, and sometimes I wonder about thee." It all depends on whose ox is getting gored at the moment..But I think we can depend on bigotry to persist for another generation or two..So much for "Judeo-Christian principles."

[1Troubles]

you had a jewish president-Roosevelt was jewish

[pizzmoe]

Roosevelt was Jewish?

[noudidnt]

He was a WASP.

[CalexenderJ]

This analysis is overly simplistic, as a lot of discussion on race and racism typically are. Are the protesters showing up enraged to the town hall meetings simply because they hate black people? Of course not, likewise no one's alleging that these people are so racist that they would vote for any white person over any black person regardless of ideology. That's essentially the black friend argument. The "I have a black friend and therefore I cannot be racist" - not necessarily. Are there people who are more likely to believe sinister things about Obama because he's black, do such ridiculous notions such as Obama hates and wants to enslave white people gain more credence with some people because Obama is black? I would venture yes.

So Matthew's problem isn't that he often brings up race, a topic that's still under discussed, it's that he often fails to bring enough nuance to his discussions.

[MrsPeel]

Good comment. Thanks.

[pizzmoe]

I didn't even know it was debatable. Matthews is right.

[BroMan]

Yeah... it wasn't racist when the ole gray-haired white man at a town brawl meeting snatched the Rosa Parks poster out of the woman's hands and tore it up. It was not racist when Glenn Beck called Obama a "racist" who "has a deep-seated hatred of white people." It was not racist when the Senator what's-his-name told Sotomayor that she would have some "splainin' to do."

I have yet to come to any other conclusion that it's Obama's race that has inspired the animus we are witnessing day after day - on so many different levels simultaneously - birthers, town brawlers, shooters, etc. When George Bush was allowed to plunder, murder and actually had the privilege of being stupid for 8 years - plunging this country into its current economic woes, the majority of this country stood by passively and let it happen. Can you imagine, truly... truly, if Obama and done and said the things that George Bush got away with during his administration that their would not have been impeachment, threats and, God forbid, worse?

[ItHadToBeSaid]

Speak on it, BroMan!! Make it plain!!

[errol44]

I agree with Matthews... I think the lunatics he refers to just can't staaaand having a Black man as their President...

Sorry Mark, I gotta go with Matthews on this one.

[mikefina]

Then go with him. Really. Go.

[NoSandwiches]

the birthers are racists.
duh.
they would never have spent this much time worrying about the birth certificate of John McCain, nor would they have asked for that of Bill Clinton. Yes, McCain's eligibility came up, but mostly in response to the crazy people who are even now questioning Pres Obama's right to be president.

Likewise, the very vocal angry mobs also have racial undertones to their protests. They aren't protesting healthcare on issues. They are using hate as a weapon. I don't see any but white faces screaming about Pres Obama being a Nazi. There is a reason for that.

On the other hand, Chris Matthews really believes he speaks for the everyman, and he is dead wrong. He tends to simplify things, but is not alone in that respect. Life as a Campaign? Give. Me. A. Break.