Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum is an ambitious man. His career took off during the 1990s with a far right wing philosophy which his constituents seemed to love. In spite of his staunchly conservative disposition, the clean-cut Santorum seemed like the kind of guy who could one day (unsuccessfully) tap at the door of the White House, assuming that he didn’t make any major mistakes. But then again, we all know what they say about assumptions.
In a recent interview with CNS News, Santorum made the latest in a long series of serious political errors by injecting racially insenstive rhetoric into the debate over abortion. In reference to President Barack Obama, Santorum said the following: “The question is, and this is what Barack Obama didn’t want to answer — is that human life a person under the constitution? And Barack Obama says no. Well if that human life is not a person then I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say ‘now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.’”
So, it appears that Santorum thinks that because Barack Obama is black, he should automatically be pro-life. I’ve seen this sort of argument on billboards and in private conversations, when pro-lifers drum up conspiracy theories about how Planned Parenthood is strategically located to abort as many black babies as possible. In his version of the racialized abortion argument, Santorum seems to be implying that because blacks were once considered to be three-fifths of a human being, we should be concerned about an undeveloped fetus not having rights to citizenship.
WATCH RICK SANTORUM’S REMARKS ON OBAMA’S BLACKNESS HERE:
To be clear, I am not a fan of abortion. At the same time, pounding us over the head with the Bible and using Jedi mind tricks to get black people to support their cause makes some in the pro-life camp look silly. Those of us in the middle of the two extremes on abortion find ourselves both confused and manipulated on a regular basis.
This incident was not the first time Santorum has put his foot in his mouth. In 2003, the former Pennsylvania senator seemed to feel that he was complimenting the gay community by comparing them to pedophiles and those who engage in bestiality. To be specific, Santorum said “In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality.”
It’s likely that Santorum may attempt to claim that his comments about Obama were taken out of context (he’s used that argument before). But given that Santorum still has hopes of one day becoming president of the United States, he should know by now that a competent public figure must be ready to defend any quote, taken in any context.The public sees things the way it is going to see them, period. His disposition is far too conservative to appeal to the majority of the American public, and that becomes more and more apparent every time he opens his mouth..
With regard to the abortion debate, I expect this fight to continue for as long as human beings are having sex. One thing that liberals such as Obama must contend with is that there are quite a few social conservatives within the African-American community who are very opposed to abortion rights. As Obama and the Democrats continue to rely on strong black support, they will always be forced to walk the tightrope of utilizing the black community for its votes while dealing with the fact that many blacks are not in lockstep with this aspect of their agenda. In fact, there are quite a few people in black America who may actually agree with Rick Santorum’s ill-advised remarks, even though they are racially tainted.
In a broader context, this consistent reference to Obama’s race by those on the far right continues to remind us that America has a long way to go when it comes to race, and the idea that we live in a post-racial society has been proven to be complete nonsense. The attacks on our president by conservative Republicans often tend to be misguided attempts to use his race as a liability and history will aggressively expose this behavior for just what it happens to be. But until that time comes, we must deal with the present and the shenanigans of the Republican Party will become even more dramatic as we move closer to the 2012 presidential election.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the initiator of the National Conversation on Race. For more information, please visit BoyceWatkins.com>
