Understandably, as a member of the House of Representatives, Wilson is probably more attuned to the more specific provisions of the House bill than the President. And when the President did make this comment, he wasn't exactly being truthful. I.E, there was no specific language stating that illegals had to have their ID's checked. Therefore, technically illegals could get access to healthcare. So, only after the address did the White House issue a statement saying such an identification check should be implemented. So, can you really blame Wilson for his honest, outright objection to such a negligent disregard for details when it comes to the healthcare reform that President Obama has personally taken the endeavor of selling to the American people?
In a positive light, Wilson's outburst provided a good outcome. Unfortunately, many of his peers in the House and Senate felt the need for punitive actions to be taken against the representative. Within reason, many argued that by his yelling at the President, Wilson was disrespecting the prestige of the President's office. However, some like Representative Hank Wilson had a different out-take on Joe Wilson's comment. One can assume after watching this sound byte, that H. Wilson feels the underlying motives for the “you lie” comment were racially based. So, one has to think to themselves “how on earth did he draw this conclusion, based on no evidence to prove this absurd notion other than the simple fact that a white representative is shouting at a black President? It probably has something to do with the fact that Joe Wilson represents that backwards hick state of South Carolina, likely packed with rednecks who dawn their white hoods in the black of night and wreak havoc on the local black communities circa 1940. But wait, didn't former Senator Obama during his race for the Presidential nomination overwhelmingly win the primary vote in the state of South Carolina? (As shown here) From this evidence, it's probably safe to make the generalization that the people of South Carolina share a post racial attitude. So, the only logical line of thinking we could gather from Hank Wilson's comment is that he must be trying to inject racism in an argument based around healthcare by labeling Joe Wilson as a racist.
Let's fast forward a bit to similar comments made by our esteemed former President Jimmy Carter. Ignoring the introductory spin on the Tea Party protests, it probably wouldn't be too much of a stretch to infer that Jimmy Carter believes opposition (which would encompass Joe Wilson's “you lie” bit) is spurred by a racist sentiment collectively held by all those people who would dare to question or object to President Obama's ongoing efforts to pass healthcare reform. Ultimately, defending the President by again, injecting race into the debate, does nothing to move the country away from any racism that still exists. All this serves to accomplish is to anger people and simply isn't helping the President's case. This is especially damaging when after the fact, the President only publicly comes out with a weak condemnation of these comments. Clearly, not wanting to insult the people alluding to the racism, but not wanting to say he agrees with them either. Always on the fence. Always the appeaser.
To bring closure to this fiasco, I think we need more people like Joe Wilson to come out and just plainly say “cut the shit, get to the point”, no fancy oration or dancing around the topic. Maybe we should adopt an address to Congress similar to how Parliament works which would confront any mis-communications in what the President is trying to sell vs what the legislation states in reality.
Jared Justice
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