The latest contretemps in the news-buzz-gaffe-outrage cycle comes from a long ago mayor of New York and the Republican governor of Wisconsin who seems to be running for president. Rudy Giuliani and Scott Walker have both gone out of their way to say they don’t know if Barack Obama “loves” America properly. Walker has added that he doesn’t really know if Obama is a Christian.
Our best instincts say we should ignore this unseemly buffoonery rather than give more attention to it.
But, of course, if we always followed our best instincts this blog might be sparse.
One aspect of the Giuliani-Walker Act, however, puzzled and concerned all of us in our morning news meeting, in a serious way. Are these random aspersions on the president’s patriotism and faith thinly veiling racist jabs? Or are they just routine political insults?
That is not a question that can be answered empirically or definitively, so we thought we would solicit your views.
We have tried hard to decode how race and prejudice factor in to the public's attitude and opposition to Obama. From another angle, we did a podcast about how race will inform Obama’s legacy.
We welcome your comments, tweets and votes. Follow us on Twitter, and watch for the results of the following poll.
