http://blogs.ajc.com/cynthia-tucker/201 ... hia_tucker
Excerpt: More @ link
3:00 pm September 3, 2010, by ctucker
WASHINGTON — What a weird summer!
Average Americans, normally sober-minded citizens, came undone over exaggerated threats and imagined enemies; rallied here by the thousands to “restore honor;” and denounced mosques, minority rights and the 14th Amendment — all the while demanding strict adherence to the U.S. Constitution. (How crazy is that ?)
This is an era of economic gloom, eroding living standards and fears about the future. But economic uncertainty cannot account for this summer’s strange currents.
Our long, hot summer needed another ingredient to induce a fever-like madness in the national psyche: demographic change. Over the last year and a half, many Americans have begun to see a deeper message in President Obama’s inauguration — the end of the white majority. For some, especially those who are middle-aged and older, it’s a jarring and unwelcome message.
Before you assume that I’m stereotyping all of the president’s critics as racists, let me be clear: I’m not. Many voters have legitimate criticisms of the Obama’s policies. I’ m talking about something more subtle and yet more profound: a fear of minority status.
Most human beings are more comfortable surrounded by others who look and sound as they do. It’s innate. That’s why most of us attend churches, join clubs and look for friends along lines of color and class. Successful black and brown professionals have had to learn to be comfortable in a sea of white faces, but most white Americans have not experienced the reverse. And many are not eager to have that experience.
While some prognosticators were naïve enough to believe that Obama’s election signaled the beginning of a post-racial era, it prompted a backlash against the browning of America. The winds of resentment would have blown in even if the economy were booming, but an anemic recovery provided the perfect fuel for a summer of discontent.
Americans came to understand that the nation they knew was undergoing a dramatic demographic change, the economy collapsed. Unable to account for the disappearance of jobs and financial security, they linked those developments as cause and effect.
So we’ve seen a summer of fury over illegal immigration. Islamophobia spiked as conservatives made a case against a proposed Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero, claiming that it would represent a victory for jihadists. The nation needs a broad economy recovery — that will support a middle-class lifestyle. There would still be those among us who resent the changing face of America, but there would be less anxiety, less fear and less anger.
The return of broad prosperity would restore faith in the promise of opportunity for all. That faith is fading right now, and citizens who ought to know better are looking for scapegoats. Those who call God “Allah” are easy targets. So are those who say “Dios.”

The dems favorite tactic. cry racism. Impossible to defend against and impossible to protect yourself from.

Trouble for the dems is that this time the average voter is being the ones called racist and they don't like the unfounded charge. After 2 yrs of the liberals playing the race card the american public is tired of it.

lol

I think the truth is more ..... "racism against Mexicans and muslims blamed on discontent with Dems"

I think the American public has just about had it with the "racist card" being pulled. I would bet my bottom dollar that two years ago, there were very few true racists in the general American public. Many people might have secretly thought that the real racists were odd blacks, like The black Panthers and White Supremists, wishing they should meet up in a dark woods some night and just duke it out.
NOW, I think a greater percentage think that blacks and Mexicans are racists with their talk about paying back the white people and reparations and "getting their land back from white invaders! Many Americans, though prepared to accept a black president and get the "racist card" out of the way forever, now are wondering if the president himself is maybe racist. After all, he certainly seems to have it in for white middle class Americans.

As people become more desperate they'll want to blame someone and it's usually the most visibly "different" group that gets the blame.

instead of "racist", can I be "party-ist"... and just hate democrats?

don't forget the LIBERALS hiding in REPUBLICAN clothes...