Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., charged President Obama with “fomenting racism” in his reelection efforts, noting also that Obama is a “literal manifestation” of how Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement succeeded.
“With all of this progress, why is it that we continue to hear charges of racism emanating from the left, and most disturbingly, from the White House itself?” West said in a statement today. “It seems anytime there is criticism of the President or any of his black members of his administration, such as Attorney General Eric Holder, that criticism is decried as racist.” West recalled, in particular, that Holder has claimed some of his critics following Operation Fast and Furious were motivated by racial animus.
West said that “this [2012] campaign must be about ideas, policy and the direction of this country, and the President must not hide behind a curtain of so-called racial bias.”
He concluded by suggesting that Dr. King would be “devasted” by Obama’s handling of racial issues as president:
West has waded into racial politics in the past, calling himself “a modern-day Harriet Tubman” who would lead black voters off the Democratic electoral “plantation.” West considered leaving the Congressional Black Caucus after Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ill., suggested that Tea Party members of Congress wanted to see black Americans such as himself lynched.
You can read West’s full statement here.
