Ah, statesmanship! The ability to shape facts, to bend truth to manipulate a situation to advantage and achieve a determined goal is a practiced art. Witness the drama or “mini-series” being played out in Washington respecting the Health Care reform proposals. The latest plot twist has been President Obama’s assessment that the basis for the belligerent and uncivilized reaction to proposed reform is not fundamentally racism, but rather an exhibition of the political dialectic regarding the ability of government to function in the best interests of the common good.
Following a summer of staged insurrections and histrionic disruption of reasoned debate about the actual details of proposed reforms, the battle erupted in an intemperate outburst in front of voracious media cameras by Rep. Joe Wilson accusing president Obama of “lying” to Congress. President Obama's actual statement that drew the specific outburst was entirely accurate, and it reflected the language of the reform proposal. But accuracy and truth are not the currency of this debate. Wilson either knew or cared little about the actual details of the reform proposal, as his agenda was simply to incite opposition and embolden right wing extremists. As with any “show stealing” maneuver, Wilson’s subsequent apology is but a small price to pay for the advantage of hijacking the debate and disrupting rational consideration of the underlying issues. the news media focused upon the outburst, minimizing the content of Obama's speech.
Former President Carter stepped forward to assess the behavior as generated, at its root, in racism. He lamented that there are a substantial number of people in the United States that refuse to accept any proposal made by a Black President, precisely because he happens to be a Black man. This pre-emptive rejection and denial of any political authority because of race is the essence of racism. Bigotry is only the superficial manifestation. Those who rose to Wilson’s defense mistake or misunderstand the difference. It does not matter whether Wilson and his followers are patent bigots, when their actions and strategy is primarily to emasculate any political initiative by the President because of his race.
Like the dynamics that underlay the incident involving arrest of Harvard professor Skip Gage, an amicable meeting for a beer to eschew personal animosity does not eradicate the existence of the systemic factors that caused the abusive exercise of police power against Gage because he is a man of color. Police professionals from as varied quarters as the head of the national Black policemen’s organization to the chief of police of a white North Carolina community agree that the white officer in the Gage incident overreacted and sought to “put Gage in his place” when he challenged the white officer. That the officer may well have not even been acting on a totally conscious level, but rather responding viscerally to what he perceived as a challenge to a construct of white privilege, serves not to excuse, but rather to reinforce the racist nature of the actions.
Obama, in statesmanlike fashion, has come forward to state that the basis of the confrontation is about the proper role of government in addressing public welfare issues. He focused upon the contention of some that government fundamentally lacks the ability to do ANYTHING right in the public interest. Obama, contrary to the media headlines, did not dispute Carter’s assertion that there is a large contingent of US citizens who oppose his efforts because of race. His strategy, however, was to try to reshape the issue to a less emotional playing field where at least the potential for rational discussion might occur. Obama wisely understands that as long as the debate is based upon name calling, the emotional component would overshadow any consideration of the practical issues. The right wing opponents know this as well, and that is likely the reason for attempting to obstruct debate by racist assaults. The disruptions in the summer town hall meetings, as well as the Wilson outburst, are merely tactics to derail debate. They are not attempts to assert or defend a position or to argue the merits of any reform strategy.
Statesmanship has, at its base, the pragmatic objective of moving some policy initiative forward. Obama understands that nothing he can do will eliminate the racist attitudes that have been part of the fabric of the American psyche since at least the time when Europeans first stepped upon the soil of the American continents. The history of the US is replete with examples of how repeated attempts to expose and overcome such racism have failed. It is so ingrained in the system that even those progressive white individuals who oppose the philosophy are unable to shed the cloak of privilege and counter the force of the collective weight of a racist system. While it is likely that Obama knows in his heart of hearts that much of the opposition against him is racially motivated, and one reading his actual interview transcript sees that he concedes as much, he also knows that engaging the battle on that front is unlikely to yield any significant progress toward the goals of providing access and reasonable health care options to the millions who lack such basic protections.
