The Return of the Racists!

Facing Obama in 2008, the Republicans reached a new low. In this new presidential campaign, old habits have resurfaced.

With the election of Barack Obama, journalists and commentators began to dream of a U.S. society finally rid of its old racist demons. Alas, simply follow the Republican primary in order to convince them otherwise: Dog whistling and coded messages with racist connotations have made a comeback.

At this game, Newt Gingrich excels. The ultraconservative candidate did not hesitate to call Obama the “food stamp president,” referring to the program that allocates food stamps to the most needy families, regardless of race. In short, it is because he himself is black that Obama would be president of welfare. “I’m prepared if the NAACP invites me, I’ll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps,” was the retort of the former chairman of the House of Representatives, who also suggested that black children are employed as guards in their own schools so as not to fall into delinquency. Subtly, another Republican candidate, Rick Santorum, has pledged that, “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”

Finger Pointing

Even Barack Obama is no longer immune to personal attacks. Rush Limbaugh, radio star presenter, went on about the same old things. Like many blacks, he said, the Obamas act as if America owed them something “because of racial prejudice which their ancestors suffered.”* But it is probably the photo, dated Jan. 25, when Jan Brewer, the Republican governor of Arizona, welcomed Barack Obama on the tarmac at the Phoenix airport that has shocked most Americans. Her finger pointing at the president resembled someone scolding a little boy. “For the African-American community, it brings back bad memories of white paternalism,” says the famous black Rev. Al Sharpton.*

“This presidential election will likely be more marked than ever by racial issues,”* notes Jeffrey Goldberg, a columnist at The Atlantic. In 2008, Republican candidate John McCain refused to engage in such attacks. But the candidates of 2012 are uninhibited. They are achieving this with insinuation and the use of rampant racism in order to convince the most conservative social groups.

*Editor’s note: The original quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.