The Left Cries Wolf Again

You may have heard of the story of the little boy who cried "Wolf"? Well, the moral of that story is that irresponsible shouting about a non-existent danger is not only annoying, but harmful to the community. When a real wolf actually did appear, no one came to help.

The leftists in the Democratic Party are harming the body politic by irresponsibly playing the race card every time they turn around. Here is Jim Clyburn, a particularly egregious offender in this regard, as quoted in a recent article in McClatchy Newspapers:

House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, on Wednesday blamed most of President Barack Obama's political problems on racism.

Clyburn, who's from South Carolina and is a close ally of the president, offered his views in response to a question about Obama's re-election prospects next year.

What he is basically saying is that no one is allowed to criticize the most powerful man in the world just because of the color of his skin. Barack Obama is not a poor, black student in an overwhelmingly white university and he is not even an ordinary black citizen in a mainly white country. He is at the very pinnacle of political success. Yet, no one is allowed to criticize him or his policies because to do so is racism.

Well, the truth is that to refrain from criticizing the president of the United States just because he is black is a betrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. His "I Have a Dream" speech, you will surely recall looked forward to a day when a man would be judged by the quality of his character rather than by the color of his skin. That day is today. Barack Obama is President of the United States, which was something almost unimaginable during Martin Luther King's lifetime.

Yet, Clyburn wants to use the color of Obama's skin as a political talisman warding off all normal criticism and attacks. He can't forget what color Obama's skin is because he is a race hustler who has built a career on guilt and political correctness and if King's dream were to be realized, then Clyburn's one-trick-pony career would be over. Clyburn is thus invested in keeping racism alive.

You can be absolutely sure that if Allen West or Herman Cain were president, Clyburn would blame absolutely none of their political problems on the color of their skin. This is not about the color of anybody's skin or the issue of racial prejudice; it is about left-wing politics.

Clyburn is a useful tool of the leftists who are manipulating Obama and the Congressional Black Congress even as Obama and Clyburn, in turn, seek to manipulate the left wing of the Democratic Party. Let's face it: the charge of racism is a powerful political weapon. The Left is extremely racist and dependent on the race gimmick to deflect criticism of their radical agenda, which is not supported by the majority of the American people.

Racism is an ugly thing. But if everybody who criticizes Obama is racist - or if Jim Clyburn and his cohorts are allowed to decide who is and who isn't - then political debate has been cleverly hijacked by those who are in danger of losing the argument.

If Mitt Romney becomes the next president, it is conceivable that some people might oppose him and criticize him because he is a Morman. It could happen. But would his supporters be able to stand up and dismiss all political criticism of Romney because some of it originated in prejudice against his religion? Of course not. Mormans don't get a free pass and neither do Muslims, women, Catholics, Evangelicals, Jews or anyone else.

Race is an emotional subject and susceptible to demagoguery and that is precisely why flinging charges of racism around irresponsibly is dangerous and harmful to the quality of political discourse. The danger is that people will get used to hearing the same old song every single time Obama comes under fire.

And eventually, when real racism rears its ugly head people will just shrug and ignore it because the Left cried "Wolf" one time too many.