MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry Rejects Tea Party Racism Charges

Melissa Harris-Perry on Tea Party Racism Charge: Would They Really Ease Up on a White Guy? (Mediaite)

MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry took a rather unique look at the charge that the tea party’s hatred of President Obama is fueled by racism, saying that whenever liberals make that argument, it’s a very subtle way of saying it would be easier to govern “without the barrier of presidential blackness.”

She reminded viewers about the 2008 campaign star Joe the Plumber, who backed Herman Cain in 2012, but this week reposted an article on his blog arguing “America Needs a White Republican President.”

The two main contentions of the piece are that the Reagan presidency was far better for black Americans than Obama’s, and that it’s easier to govern without the spectre of being called a racist every time you attack the president. Harris-Perry said, “If that risk has limited the criticism that the president gets, I haven’t noticed.”

She called the piece “ludicrous,” but did make it clear this line of thinking about white presidents making governing easier isn’t just restricted to the fringe right.