Racist anti-Obama sentiment in Supreme Court fight could backfire

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The sudden death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has again revealed America’s racial divide on the powers of the Presidency.

We initially saw that racial schism during the battle over Obamacare. Though Obama’s landmark legislation was gleaned from a Republican idea that had worked successfully in Massachusetts, the white-male-dominated GOP declared Obama’s signature health-care law a failure before it went into effect. We saw the racial animus again with the fierce resistance to president Obama’s executive orders on immigration – orders that looked very much like those previously implemented by Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Now, with Scalia’s death, the double standard is once again in effect. But the hypocrisy is even more apparent than it has been in the past.

I believe Obama is being treated this way not just because he is a Democrat, but also because he is black, and the GOP, according to a 2012 Gallup poll, is nearly 90 percent white.

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Photo: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaking at CPAC in 2011. Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons

Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon.