Jim Moran: Racism fueled Democrats' midterm losses - Jennifer Epstein

A Democratic congressman is attributing his party’s losses in the 2010 election cycle to the fact that President Barack Obama is black.

Speaking to Arab television network Alhurra, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) said Republicans made big gains in November in part because “a lot of people in this country … don’t want to be governed by an African-American.”

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POLITICO 44

Even more objectionable to some Americans, he said, is that Obama is a black president “who is inclusive, who is liberal, who wants to spend money on everyone and who wants to reach out to include everyone in our society — that’s a basic philosophical clash.”

Moran’s remarks came Tuesday in an interview conducted after Obama delivered his State of the Union speech. Democrats, Moran said, lost for “the same reason the Civil War Happened in the United States … the Southern states, particularly the slaveholding states, didn’t want to see a president who was opposed to slavery.” Virginia, of course, is one of those Southern, formerly slaveholding states.

Moran has gotten in trouble for his off-the-cuff remarks in the past. In 2007, he alleged that the “extraordinarily powerful” pro-Israel lobby played a major role in promoting the U.S. war in Iraq. A strong supporter of his district’s Muslim community, Moran faced criticism from Jewish groups in 2003 for saying that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was visiting Washington “probably seeking a warrant from President Bush to kill at will with weapons we’ve paid for.”

In a statement, Moran’s spokeswoman, Anne Hughes, defended his most recent comments.

“With nearly 1,000 identified hate groups in the U.S. and recent studies showing a majority of Americans believe racism is still widespread against African-Americans, it is no secret that our country has and continues to struggle with racial equality,” Hughes said. “The congressman was expressing his frustration with this problem and the role it played in the last election. Rather than ignore this issue or pretend it isn’t there, the congressman believes we are better off discussing it in order to overcome it.”

She added: “Rep. Moran believes that despite these pervasive problems, President Obama has the ability to make this a more unified, diverse and stronger country.”

via politico.com

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