A guest column from Tony Perkins of the Family Research Center on the hysterical left's use of race to shut down all criticism of the Obama administration.

Race Card: Sign of Desperation

By Tony Perkins

Yesterday, the House voted 240 to 179 to censure Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) for saying the President was lying about aspects of his health care reform plan. What was more telling than the vote was the rhetoric that surrounded it. Those pushing to publicly flog Wilson avoided the subject at hand, the health care reform plan and whether or not the President's statements were false.

Rather, House members like Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) used the opportunity to say Wilson 's actions were motivated by racial animus. In an interview with CNN, Johnson said "I guess we'll probably have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside, intimidating people. That's the logical conclusion if this kind of attitude is not rebuked." On ABC's World News, referring to Wilson's comments, Lee said "Hate speech can turn into hate crimes."

Working out of the Left's classic playbook, former President Jimmy Carter, interviewed on NBC Nightly News, chimed in not only on Wilson's comments but on the public opposition to the President's liberal plans saying, "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African-American."

This is a classic move by the Left when they can't win the policy debate; they try to marginalize their opponents by calling them racist.