Obama's Race War

Jonathan Chait marvels at the "unanticipated" racial divisions Obama has provoked. Seriously.

by Rod D. Martin
April 8, 2014

In the new issue of New York magazine, Jonathan Chait marvels at the "unanticipated" racial divisions Obama has provoked.

Seriously.

Chait acknowledges how this plays out: liberals surreally claim every conservative complaint against Obama's agenda is motivated by the President's race -- because obviously no conservative was ever opposed to leftwing politics prior to 2009 -- and as a result, conservatives believe their genuine policy differences are being delegitimized by dishonest racial slurs.

Can you believe such a thing? Or rather, can you believe it took a smart guy like Jonathan Chait six years to notice?

The real issue is that none of this is "unanticipated" at all: it was Obama's deliberate strategy from the beginning, joyously, shamelessly, cynically employed by his supporters as well as his media minions, first against Hillary and then against the Republicans, without the slightest let-up. The left's "arguments" have been reduced to two: "Obama's coo…