Blog

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

Rep. Mike Rogers should apologize for calling President Obama ‘ol’ boy’

In a spectacular demonstration of disrespect and general ignorance of recent American history, Congressman Mike Rogers openly disparaged President Obama earlier this week by telling a reporter for the Opelika-Auburn News that ‘we survived Jimmy Carter … we can survive this ol’ boy.’

As the OA News said in a recent editorial, the President - no matter his party affiliation - is nobody’s ‘boy’. Regardless of what ideological differences Congressman Rogers has with the President of the United States, he deserves the same respect Rogers would show for any Republican Commander in Chief.

Congressman Rogers should be fully aware of the racial connotations that stem from using the word ‘boy’ as a slur against men of color and it’s unfortunate that he couldn’t be bothered to take care with words after Scott Beason’s repeated and well-publicized racially-charged missteps earlier this year.

Mocking our President’s background as a community organizer as if men and women across the state aren’t constantly working together to better their neighborhoods as the President did in Chicago derides the work of not only the President but of countless Alabamians who commit their lives to making a positive change in their communities.

Mocking President Carter as 'just' a peanut farmer is absolutely an insult to everyone who works in the agriculture industry in Alabama — given that it’s the biggest industry in the state, Congressman Rogers is going to have a lot of apologizing to do.

Congressman Rogers’ selective memory casually ignores President Carter's service as a Naval Academy graduate and Governor, as well as the work President Obama did as a civil rights attorney, a Constitutional scholar, a state senator for Illinois, and as a member of the United States Senate. His Administration has saved millions of jobs and he has worked tirelessly to pass legislation that will reduce spending and cut the deficit — all while expanding tax cuts and vital services such as health insurance to the middle class.

It also ignores the fact that former President Ronald Reagan — the gold standard of Presidents to which Congressman Rogers evidently believes no Democrat can compare — raised the debt ceiling seventeen times, tripled the national debt, raised taxes eleven times, and granted amnesty to three million undocumented immigrants.

To say that Congressman Rogers needs a remedial lesson in American history seems to be something of an understatement. But if he is unable to pick up a summer school class during his next Congressional recess, he should at least apologize for his insensitive addressing of our President as ‘boy,’ and to all of America’s farmers for suggesting the work they do to put food on our tables is a laughable part of a Presidential resume.