So it was no surprise that there was a proliferation of racist comments against President Obama on social media when he won re-election. The logical extension of this crazy train is now the secession petition drives.
[Black Star News Editorial]
Mitt Romney will never be president of the United States but he can be presidential by denouncing divisiveness from extreme elements of the Republican party including the birthers who want to push race relations back to the 1950s.
Post-election extremism is now represented by a petition drive for secession.
It didn’t help that Romney was a sore loser when he claimed he was beaten because the president offered goodies to his base.
So while most media pundits have been ridiculing The White House lunch meeting between the former presidential candidates, the Republican can actually use the event to shape his legacy. Romney can issue a statement or hold a news conference. He can say the election is over. That promoting divisiveness and racist rhetoric doesn’t help the country. It certainly won’t improve his own party’s prospects either going forward.
Romney contributed to the divisiveness who’s crown prince is Donald “Kenyan” Trump.
While speaking at a campaign rally accompanied by his wife in Michigan, Romney said: “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place where both of us were born and raised.”
The Washington Post reported later: “The crowd of roughly 1,000 responded knowingly with loud cheers, and several supporters said in interviews following the rally that they interpreted Romney’s comment as a dig at Obama. Although Obama has released his birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii, some conservative activists still question his citizenship.”
Then there was John Sununu one of Romney’s leading surrogates.
Referring to Obama and his alleged hostility to free enterprise, Sununu observed: “He has no idea how the American system functions” because during Obama’s early years “he was in Hawaii smoking something.” Sununu added, of Obama: “And I wish this President would learn how to be American.”
Ironically, Sununu himself is of Palestinian and Greek ancestry and was born in Havana, Cuba. His father’s name was John Saleh Sununu.
In the final weeks of the campaign when retired Gen. Colin Powell endorsed Obama again, Sununu dismissed it as merely race-based.
Even Sarah Palin, who once claimed she could see Putin’s head jumped back into the mix. “Obama’s Shuck and Jive Ends With Benghazi Lies” she tweeted.
So it was no surprise that there was a proliferation of racist comments against President Obama on social media when he won re-election. The logical extension of this crazy train is now the secession petition drives.
This is the 21st Century but there are still elements who want to take us back to the pre-1950s race relations.
Divisiveness and hate-mongering gained steam in December 2008 even before President Obama was inaugurated when prominent Republican radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh declared: “…I don’t want this to work…I hope he fails.”
It’s time for someone prominent from the Republican party to say “enough is enough.”
To say: Let’s compete on ideas not on ugly race-baiting and divisiveness.
Mitt Romney has an opportunity to seize the moment.
Of course his words would have carried more weight had he denounced divisiveness as a candidate. Now that he knows it couldn’t get
him elected maybe he has some incentive to jolt his party into the 21st century.
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
