COMMENTARY | Newt Gingrich has been making plenty of headlines, and even a bit of headway against Mitt Romney’s lead in the South Carolina primary polls after making some controversial statements in the most recent GOP debate. According to CNN, Newt Gingrich is polling at 23 percent, just 10 percentage points behind front-runner Mitt Romney. Gingrich’s remarks were not simply candid statements from a candidate, they were racially motivated and calculated.
When called out by Fox News commentator Juan Williams about statements made regarding black Americans and their willingness to demand food stamps over jobs, Newt Gingrich failed to see how his comments would be considered insulting. He continued to defend his idea that poor children lack a strong work ethic, as well as his argument that President Obama is a “food stamp president.” Gingrich was so proud of himself at the debate, he used his performance for a campaign video which highlighted his insulting remarks, and portrayed himself as a bit of a hero.
There is no way to see Gingrich’s statements as anything other than racially motivated. Gingrich has realized that he cannot drum up support as a religious conservative due to his sketchy past, so he has opted to play the race card instead. By painting the black poor of this country as addicted to entitlements and lacking any work ethic, Gingrich can attempt to demonstrate that he is the most conservative of conservatives. He figured that the south would be the best place to test the waters. It seems to have worked a bit, judging by the poll numbers and the audience reaction to his remarks at the debate.
There is something inherently dangerous in referring to the country’s first black president as a “food stamp president.” Such a statement carries with a racial charge that goes far beyond what should be acceptable. Newt Gingrich stated that “more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any other president in American history.” Even if this were a true fact — it has been disproven by Politifact — his assertion is that the president forced people to accept food stamps. Gingrich was insinuating that a black man is leading the way for black families to get public assistance rather than jobs.
Blacks in this country are no more willing to accept public assistance over a job than whites are. Gingrich is simply trying to stir up the conservative base, which is primarily Caucasian. He isn’t risking losing many votes as far as he is concerned, because he views blacks as being liberals and willing to vote for their “food stamp leader” in November. What Gingrich isn’t counting on is that enough people will see him for what he truly is, a pompous and arrogant elitist with no chance of winning the Republican nomination, let alone the White House.