COMMENTARY | Attorney General Eric Holder believes one of the reasons why he, and President Barack Obama, are pursued so strongly by opponents is because of race, according to his comments to The New York Times. Even though his interview happened almost a week ago, his comments are being blasted now by members of Congress who are looking into issues such as Fast and Furious, according to Fox News. As a political consultant, I see Holder's statement as the ultimate sign of weakness.
Do not get me wrong; I do believe race can play a part in political pressure as I have seen it firsthand. That an African American is in the White House did not eliminate racism from America or American politics. There is as much racism in America as there was before the previous presidential election and there will probably be the same amount of racism after the next election. The act of pulling the race card is the issue.
By bringing race into his defense, Holder has given people a point to use against him. The race card is being used to trivialize the investigations going on and make them look unimportant. This can either be interpreted as a way to deflect the investigations or as the last card Holder and President Obama have left. Either interpretation makes the attorney general appear as someone who is unable to deal with the politics of an investigation.
The worst-case scenario would be for the Democrats and/or the White House to back Holder on the assumption that race is progressing the investigations. The worst case would be for the Democrats and the White House to allow actions to be taken to bring race fully into the next election. If you thought the Occupy Movement was a rough patch in recent American history, a war of words over racism and the election could be the biggest headache in recent memory.
The best actions for the White House to take right now would be to either admonish Holder for his comments or to ask for him to step down from his position. If President Obama wants the rest of the investigations to go as smoothly as possible, he should send a message that he does not support the race card in this instance. Unless, or course, he wants the card played as well to help his chances next year.
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