President Obama asserted that while some people dislike him simply because of his skin color, others give him plenty of political leeway for the same reason — “because I’m a black president,” he said, in The New Yorker.
Some “really dislike me” because the idea of a black man in the White House is disagreeable, he said, in the lengthy article published Sunday and reported by Newsmax.
“Now the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a black president,” Mr. Obama said in the interview.
Mr. Obama also said that opposing his federal policy is not necessarily racist — as some Democratic Party operatives and strategists have tried to claim. But he also said 10th Amendment activists, or those who believe strongly in the right of states to govern themselves and that the Constitution limits federal powers, should admit that those principles are tied to the reasons behind the Civil War and to the civil rights movement, Newsmax reported.
Meanwhile, conservatives should cut him some slack, he said. For instance, his reluctance to let Medicare be guided by states’ laws “may not simply be because I am this power-hungry guy in Washington who wants to crush states’ rights,” but rather as a means of ensuring all are treated equally, he said in the interview.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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