Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee Says Congressional Resistance to Raising Debt Ceiling Because President Obama is Black

Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee says opposition by Congress to President Obama's desire to raise the debt ceiling is solely because he is black.

True to form, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) invoked race as a reason for the stalemate between Republicans and Democrats in the debt ceiling debate. She suggested that members of Congress are making it extremely difficult for President Obama to raise the debt ceiling because he is black.

"I do not understand what I think is the maligning and maliciousness [toward] this president,” said Jackson Lee, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “Why is he different? And in my community, that is the question that we raise. In the minority community that is question that is being raised. Why is this president being treated so disrespectfully? Why has the debt limit been raised 60 times? Why did the leader of the Senate continually talk about his job is to bring the president down to make sure he is unelected?”

"I am particularly sensitive to the fact that only this president — only this one, only this one — has received the kind of attacks and disagreement and inability to work, only this one," said Jackson Lee from the House floor.

"Read between the lines," she continued. "What is different about this president that should put him in a position that he should not receive the same kind of respectful treatment of when it is necessary to raise the debt limit in order to pay our bills, something required by both statute and the 14th amendment?" Source: The Hill

Many people in the black community do believe that President Obama isn't getting the respect due to him because of the color of his skin. Former president George W. Bush was caricatured as a dolt, but it was never along racist lines. We have seen President Obama portrayed as a chimpanzee, a native with a bone through his nostrils, a White House lawn filled with watermelons, numerous emails circulated mocking his race and his wife, Michelle Obama, has been denigrated on many occasions. So, Sheila Jackson-Lee isn't off base about how the black community believes he is being perceived.

With that said, I don't for a minute believe the Republicans in the meetings with the president are undermining him because of the color of his skin. They just want the Democrat to fail, as they have always felt about any other Democratic president. Let us revisit how former president Bill Clinton was treated, like a piece of sh*t at the hands of Republican congressional leadership, even impeached. So, Sheila Jackson-Lee chose the wrong dogfight to invoke race and she should be ashamed of herself. If the truth be told, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. John Boehner, Rep. Eric Cantor, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and others have disgraced themselves by not finding some common ground with the president based on the needs of the American people, like you and I, who put them in office.