by Richard Ivory

In a recent interview with The News & Observer, Colin Powell the former secretary of state under Bush explained his opinion regarding the recent accusations of racism by Former. President Jimmie Carter.

 In the interview he is quoted as saying that he believed that Mr. Obama might be facing more hostility but that the blame lay, not necessarily in racial bias, but instead with the partisan culture of the Internet and Cable News. These current popular examples of media, he says, amplify the more extreme voices.

He went on to say ” The issue here is not race, it is civility!” This is not to say that we are suddenly racially pure, but constantly talking and reducing everything to black versus white is not helpful to the cause of restoring civility to our public dialogue.

The former secretary nails the problem on the head. The Nation is divided. The rhetoric from both sides is a simple reflection of that divide. Democrats had no problem tearing down Bush starting in 2000 and into the end of his Administration. The Democrats attacked him from day one, and never let go of accusations that he stole the election to 9/11 being an inside job. Of course most Democrats refused to loudly and publicly denounce these and other attacks by the far left.

Today, of course, now that they have won the White House, it is the Democrats who are demanding civility. I suspect that the far right is having none of it since they recall every slight the left threw at them. It would seem as though the back and fourth is going to continue. As long as each group tries to take the other down it is an all out war between the two parties. Consequently, moderates like Powell are simply a distraction.

Richard Ivory is a political consultant and writer for New Majority.com and is the founder of  HipHopRepublican.com, he has worked for the Republican National Committee and was the college outreach director for the Republican Youth Majority